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KAYTE YOUNG: From WFIU in Bloomington, I'm Kayte Young and this is Earth Eats.
MONET GHORBANI: But it's been special in my adulthood to learn how to make these things myself, and then be the one to bring it to my family. 
KAYTE YOUNG: This week we talk with Monet Nazilla Ghorbani, President of the Navruz Student Association at Indiana University about celebrating the Persian New Year. She shares her favorite Iranian dish perfect, for celebrating the arrival of spring. And from Harvest Public Media two stories about rivers and agriculture. All that and more just ahead, so stay with us. 
RENEE REED: Earth Eats is produced from the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana. We wish to acknowledge and honor the indigenous communities native to this region and recognize that Indiana University is built on indigenous homelands and resources.  We recognize the Miami, Delaware, Potawatomi, and Shawnee people as past, present, and future caretakers of this land.
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KAYTE YOUNG: The Biden Administration is fighting climate change in part by pushing for cars and trucks to be more fuel efficient and reduce emissions. But so far there hasn't been talk of another mode of transportation and its future within the move towards green energy. Harvest Public Media's Seth Bodine reports on the barge industry's outlook and what effect it may have on Midwestern rivers and agriculture. 

SETH BODINE: Every year Mike Bellard drives a semi-truck more than a hundred miles from his farm in Howard Kansas to the port of Catoosa in Tulsa Oklahoma. The trailer is filled with about 57,000 pounds of soybeans. 
MIKE BELLARD: This winter we took 70 semi loads down. 
SETH BODINE: Bellard's soybeans are put on barges that float down the McClellan-Kerr navigation system a water highway that connects the Arkansas River to the Mississippi. The soybeans are eventually loaded onto ships and delivered worldwide. Barges use a lot less gas and have a lot more capacity than trucks or trains. Bellard says those savings make the six-round trip worth it. 
MIKE BELLARD: The best prices go out on the barges. I think it's brilliant, it gives us a market. It's extremely important.
SETH BODINE: Farmers have relied on the system for 50 years. Former President Richard Nixon spoke at the grand opening of the port of Catoosa in 1971, noted that savings go both ways. 
PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: Lower shipping costs coming in mean that the farmer pays less for fertilizer, machinery, and other supplies, and lower shipping costs going out. 
SETH BODINE: David Yarborough is the director of Tulsa ports. He says one barge can carry 1,500 tons of grain, fertilizer, or soybeans. That's equal to 60 semi-trucks. 
DAVID YARBOROUGH: Now think about a single towboat on our system pushing multiple barges, let's say 12. Twelve barges pushed by one towboat, now you have the equivalent of 720 semi-trucks replaced by 1 towboat.
SETH BODINE: But in 2019 record rains and flooding caused problems like sand bars that closed the port four months. Farmers like Bellard couldn't put grain or soybeans on barges, instead he had to store his grain until he could ship it in the fall. His biggest biggest issue though with said he couldn't get fertilizer from the port. Instead he had to get it from Missouri, and it was pricey. 

MIKE BELLARD: Fertilizer is cheaper coming up on a barge then coming in by rail or truck. And that's why it cost me, is on the fertilizer end. 

SETH BODINE: Yarborough says it took most of the year for the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge and make other repairs so the port could get back to normal. 
DAVID YARBOROUGH: It was frustrating because we're at the end of the line and all of the dredging and operations to restore the channel have to start downstream and work their way up upstream. 
SETH BODINE: Congress controls the money needed for repairs. This year the crop was given $26 million dollars for this Inland Waterway. It also received more than a $100 million for flood repairs in 2019. Despite that there's still a huge backlog of about $225 million dollars for maintenance on structures, like gates that help regulate the flow of the river. 
THADDAEUS BABB: This number seems to grow each year. 
SETH BODINE: That's Thaddeus Babb at the waterways program manager for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
THADDAEUS BABB: A lot of times what happens is they have to take what amount they do have for this and put kind of a bandaid fix on it, something to get it to last a little longer. But again that doesn't necessarily always take it off of the critical list. 
SETH BODINE: The backlog has many people like Yarborough worried. He says the system was designed well but it needs attention. He compares the situation to car maintenance.
DAVID YARBOROUGH: That car runs well, and it's got good tires, but when you put a lot of miles on it things are going to need to be replaced. Tires to get bald, the oil needs to be changed. You need to take care of that car. If you don't it will let you down at some point.
SETH BODINE: If something breaks, it could back up traffic for days or longer. Some are hoping the $17 billion for inland waterways in the president's infrastructure bill will help repair and modernize McClellan-Kerr, and keep soybeans flowing from Kansas all the way to China. Seth Bodine, Harvest Public Media. 
KAYTE YOUNG: This story is part 3 of Harvest Public Media is multi-part series on rivers and waterways in agriculture. Later in the show we bring you another story from the river series, from Dana Cronin on water quality. Find more on this series at HarvestPublicMedia.org
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March 20th was the day of the Spring Equinox this year. The Persian New Year celebration known as Nowruz coincides with the Spring Equinox. Persians are not the only ones who celebrate in a Nowruz and the traditions vary from culture to culture. The Navruz Student Association at Indiana University typically plans a week-long celebration involving dancing and food. But this year it all had to be virtual. I spoke with the president of the Navruz Student Association, Monet Nazilla Ghorbani. She organized the cooking demonstration of a popular Iranian dish that is often associated with the spring holiday.
I joined the virtual workshop where participants prepared the dish in our own separate kitchens in real-time, while Monet walked us through the steps. She sent out an ingredient list ahead of time and thankfully with enough lead time to locate a few of the hard-to-find ingredients.
The two ingredients that were most unfamiliar are also crucial to the dish. Kashk is the first one, it's referred to as whey. It's a dairy product. We found it in a quart-size jar in the refrigerated section of World Foods Market in Bloomington, formerly known as Sahara Mart. It's thick and creamy, the color of tahini with a tangy salty flavor.
The other special ingredient is the Reshteh. They're long straight noodles, flat and thick, and made from wheat. I can't think of another noodle that would behave exactly like these do, so if possible it's best not to substitute them. those were also easy to locate at World Foods Market in Bloomington.
Fenugreek leaves sometimes known as methi, were also on the list, though Monette said they were optional. The rest of the ingredients were more familiar.
MONET GHORBANI: About two large onions, garlic, two pounds of spinach, two bunches of parsley, two bunches of dill, one bunch of chives, one bunch of mint. And if you couldn't get all of those herbs, in exactly that quantity it doesn't matter. Turmeric, salt and pepper, dried mint, fenugreek optional. I like to just throw it in because I have it. Your favorite broth or just water if you'd like. Lentils, chickpeas, and white beans. 

KAYTE YOUNG: After some brief introductions we dove right into the cooking. Monet had instructed us to soak the dried white beans and chickpeas overnight, and to have the greens washed and chopped, and the onions and garlic sliced and ready to go. We set aside about a quarter cup of the onions to make into a garnish later. 
The first step is to sauté the onions and oil until golden. This will take about 15 minutes then add the garlic and about a tablespoon of salt, tablespoon of turmeric, a handful of fenugreek, a pinch of the dried mint if you like, and some freshly ground pepper.
MONET GHORBANI: Yeah it's funny because I used to get so, not mad with my Grandma, but a little bit annoyed sometimes when she would be making some delicious Persian dish and I would want to learn, and I would try to like come with my notebook, and be like, "Okay! How much exactly of that did you do? And then what did you do?" But she couldn't tell me because she just did it. 
KAYTE YOUNG: Then add the soaked white beans and chickpeas, the lentils, and the broth. Once the broth is hot, start adding all of your prepared greens.
MONET GHORBANI: I forgot to mention that you'll need a really big pot for all of this. 
KAYTE YOUNG: This includes chives or scallions, fresh mint, parsley, dill, and mounds of spinach.
MONET GHORBANI: Also the greens really do cook down and so when we're at that step and you're throwing them in, you're like how is this going to work? It's...
KAYTE YOUNG: You might need to do this in stages, allowing the greens to cook down a bit so that you can fit them all in the pot. Once they're in, put the lid on, turn the heat down, and let it all simmer for about an hour.
The workshop was friendly and informal. We chatted as we cooked, asked questions along the way, and Monet routinely checked in on our progress.
MONET GHORBANI: Can I ask where everyone is? Are we adding in beans at this point? Still chopping a little bit perhaps? 

KAYTE YOUNG: People shared stories about food from their travels and times living in other countries like Afghanistan. We discussed the difference between fenugreek seeds, powder and leaves. And Monet talked about making Persian ice cream.
MONET GHORBANI: I started from scratch with boiling the milk, adding saffron, and sugar, lots of cream, rosewater eventually. It turned out well, the hardest part was getting it to turn into ice cream in the right way even though I don't have a churn. So basically I kept putting it in the freezer for 30 minutes, taking it out, mixing it, putting it back.
Rosewater, pistachios, saffron. So it's very yellow from the saffron. It's delicious. Especially if you're not used to very aromantic flavors, like rosewater and saffron, it kind of messes with your senses the first time you try it. But yes, it's super delicious. One of my favorite things for sure. 
KAYTE YOUNG: We took a break while the ash-e cooked, and we came back to play a trivia game that Monet set up on cahoots. We downloaded the app on our phones and logged into the game. The topic was the spice trade.
MONET GHORBANI: Which spice nomads from ancient times known for always having on hand?
KAYTE YOUNG: Mostly we didn't know the answers, but we had fun and we learned some random facts about herbs and spices.
MONET GHORBANI: Alright so the answer is cardamom. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice in the world. Linguistically the cardamom trade is...

KAYTE YOUNG: By the time we finished we were ready for the next steps in the dish. It was time to add the kashk. It's pretty thick so we ladled some of the broth into a bowl with the measured kashk and mixed it until it was nice and smooth. Then we stirred it into the soup. next snap the reshteh noodles in half and drop them into the pot stop.

MONET GHORBANI: Once you've added the kashk we are going to add the reshteh noodles. Just take them out, snap them in half, drop them in the pot. You'll want to stir it, and...
KAYTE YOUNG: I had to keep stirring and using tongs to keep the noodles separated. They're prone to clumping up. Then put the lid back on and cook over medium-low heat for another 30 minutes to get the noodles cooked. Stir the pot occasionally and if it gets too thick you can add a bit of hot water.
MONET GHORBANI:...boil out, so it can't be too hot. But it needs to be hot enough to cook the noodles. Alright and once we're all ready we can...
KAYTE YOUNG: Meanwhile, prepare the garnishes. 
MONET GHORBANI: Once we're all ready we're going to prepare those few garnishes. 
KAYTE YOUNG: Fry the onions we set aside earlier until they're crispy but not burnt. I had to do this twice because I burned the first batch. Make some dried mint in a small pan with oil to make a paste and heat just until warm and fragrant. Then mix a bit more of the kashk with some broth in a small bowl. Once the noodles are ready you can serve the Ash-e Reshteh. Spoon a generous amount of the stew into a bowl, swirl in some of the kashk in the center, sprinkle on the fried onions, and drizzle a bit of mint paste across the top.
We all sampled the dish and everyone was pleased. More than one person noted how comforting it was, and that surprised me. When I think of comfort food, I think of the foods from my own past. this dish was unfamiliar in almost every way. the tangy flavor of the kashk with the now sauce-like greens, the fenugreek leaves, and the texture of the thick noodles. Yet somehow the combination felt warm and soothing, like comfort food.
Not everyone in the workshop made the dish, a few just wanted to hang out and learn. One of the participants was worried she had made too much, so she arranged to bring a portion to someone in town who had not make the dish. I will warn you that Monet's recipe makes a lot of food. A 1/2 recipe is plenty for four people and you'll still have leftovers. We have a photo of my dish and the complete recipe for Ash-e Reshteh is on our website at EarthEats.org.
After a short break will talk with Monet Ghorbani about what cooking Iranian food means to her. stay with us.
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KAYTE YOUNG: I'm Kayte Young, this is Earth Eats. And we're back with Monet Nazilla Ghorbani, she's the president of the Navruz Student Association at Indiana University. Monet is a second-year graduate student in international affairs with a focus on Central Asia. She is originally from Arizona, which is where she was when we spoke via zoom in late March. I wanted to talk with her about the virtual cooking workshop she led in celebration of Nowruz this spring. 
MONET GHORBANI: I posted a cooking workshop to teach a group of people how to cook one of my favorite Persian dishes that I grew up eating, named Ash-e Reshteh. And it's a vegetarian dish, there's no meat in it. The primary ingredients are a lot of herbs, whey or kashk noodles and beans.
I just think it was always my favorite food growing up because it's just really comforting. I also have a lot of fond memories of like always knowing when my grandmother was over when I would open the door after I come home from school. I'd open the garage door, and if I got like slammed in the face with the smell of fried onions then I knew was home. Because also Persian food takes a long time to cook, so if you're going to be eating around dinner then you have to start cooking around 4 or 5. That was usually around the time that I would come home anyway. 
KAYTE YOUNG: The workshop, which you heard about in the first part of the show, took place on a Saturday and lasted about two and a half hours. Though not all of that was active cooking time. The idea was that we wouldn't just watch Monet prepare the dish, we would make it at home during the workshop, for a shared but distanced culinary experience.
Participants prepared for the class by watching a video that Monet recorded walking through the steps and listing all of the ingredients. There were a couple of special ingredients that weren't available at the standard grocery store, so it was good to have the list ahead of time to make sure we all had what we needed. I was struck by Monet's straightforward approach to the dish and how there didn't seem to be a lot of room for variation or improvisation.
MONET GHORBANI: Persian food is interesting because it's very nationalized in a way, there are all of these dishes and it's not like every family has their own variation of this dish. For the most part everybody knows how it should taste, and you're not supposed to really a stray too far from that. So like Ash-e Reshteh is a very Iranian dish and if you made it different... I just don't really know how you could really make it that different, and have it be still be Ash-e. A few more greens, or a few more beans, but things like Reshteh, [Persian] for the most part they always tastes the same. Either you make it really well, or you don't make it very well. But you're not really throwing in all these really crazy adaptations to it. 
So I think it's just a little bit different than in the U.S., I think that there's this culture of passing down recipes generation to generation on little notecards or something. I don't really think that that (happens). It doesn't happen in my family at least. The women learn how to cook when they're young. There are these very national recipes that everybody knows. It's not a very individualistic sort of endeavor. It's like, "Oh you did this well, it's not too oily and you cut the greens small enough, very good." Or "Not so good, there's tons of oil, change this next time so that it can look that it's supposed to look." 
But yeah so not really an individual expression, but at the same time it's kind of nice because then that means that Persian food instantly takes everyone back to their roots. So in that way it can be very powerful. 

KAYTE YOUNG: One of the key ingredients that I was unfamiliar with in this dish is called Kashk. I asked Monet about it. 
MONET GHORBANI: Kashk is really just, I think in English it's called whey. I've never made it myself, but it was really interesting one of the people who joined the workshop she was having a hard time finding it in Bloomington, and she gave up and said, "I'll make Kashk myself" So she looked up a recipe and you basically just boil yogurt for hours. 
I don't know much about like milk processes, but it is this very creamy sort of substance, typically a lot of salt is added. Also kashk is pretty ubiquitous throughout Central Asia, and I wouldn't necessarily say middle east because I don't know if it extends that far, but at least throughout central Asia and Western China, and Iran, there are snacks called qurt, and it's basically you take Kashk and you dry it, and it's this really salty snack. You wouldn't want to put the whole thing in your mouth cause it's like super dry, and salty, but people love it. 
Also in Mongolia a very strong aspect of Mongolian cuisine is dried curds very similar to Kashk. So this ingredient, I think it's very unfamiliar in the western world, but it's pretty ubiquitous throughout central Asia and Iran, especially in its different forms. 

Maybe now I'd be interested in taking time to it to make it myself cause that sounds interesting, but usually we've always just bought it from the store because there are several Iranian dishes that use Kashk, there's Ash-e Reshteh, obviously. There's another really popular dish called Kashk Bademjan. Kashk and Bademjan means eggplant. It's this really delicious salty, kashky eggplant dip, you usually eat it with bread.

KAYTE YOUNG: To use up our leftover Kashk, my partner Carl made this eggplant dish, and it was incredibly delicious. Smooth and saffron scented with a tangy creaminess from the kashk, we will definitely be making that again.
MONET GHORBANI: You can also buy it in its dried form and then use it. When I was looking on the internet there was also Lebanese Kashk but that was dry. And it reminded me of in Tajikistan there's this dish, I'm forgetting the name right now but it's like there's a lot of shared dishes within Central Asia, but this dish is very uniquely Tajik. And it's like this kind of croissanty type of bread with a lot of oil on top, and meat sometimes, and vegetables. And then they take dried kashk, and they make it liquid again or make something with it and then throw that on top. and it's all the same sort of substance but just in different forms.
KAYTE YOUNG: The other unfamiliar ingredient was the noodles.
MONET GHORBANI: The dish is Ash-e Reshteh. Reshteh is just a type of noodle. So if you're making Ash-e Reshteh, you buy reshteh noodles and you throw them in there.
Someone in the workshop, he said that the closest thing that you could think of to reshteh noodles was maybe Lo Mein because they are really chewy, and you have to pretty consistently mix the kashk otherwise the reshteh noodles will just clump together. They're not egg based, I don't think there's any egg in it. They're wheat-based noodles. And just like thick and chewy.
And I always buy an Iranian brand, so probably made in some factory in Iran and shipped over. So I don't know much about the process. Like I always break them in half before I add them in, but if you weren't to do that then I think it would be a really difficult dish to make and consume afterwards, because they don't really fall apart in any way. 
KAYTE YOUNG: I asked Monet about the significance of making this dish around the Persian New Year holiday of Nowruz.
MONET GHORBANI: On Nowruz, most people have the tradition of eating a rice dish mixed with a lot of herbs and then fish. So it's not a dish that you eat on Nowruz, but it's definitely considered like a springtime dish, I think because of all of the greens and herbs in it.

And also there are other very typical Nowruz foods. Like one in particular that I'm thinking about is called samanoo. And it's made from wheat, and it's this wheat paste that you have to mix for like a full 24 hours otherwise it'll burn. But people eat it because they think that it gives up strength for the spring season.
So I think that there is this idea of needing to like fill yourself with good healthy hearty food after winter and coming into spring and I think Ash-e kind of fits that as well. Cause it doesn't have any meat in it, but it's definitely like the hearty soup with a lot of beans and kashk in it, and it really fills you up. So I think that the greens are one of the things that make it feel really springy but I think also just that need to like fill yourself up in a really good way, coming into the new year might also make it a dish that's good for Nowruz.
KAYTE YOUNG: I wanted to know more about the holiday itself.
MONET GHORBANI: It's not an Islamic holiday, it has its roots in Zoroastrianism. The reason why it's still widely celebrated today is because I think it has its ties to like the Persian Empire's expansion because it's celebrated throughout Central Asia. And even like when I was living in Mongolia, the Kazak diaspora, they also celebrated Nowruz. So it's pretty widespread but doesn't have its roots in Islam. And that might be kind of be like a misconception that people have I think, because there are so other holidays that are Islamic holidays throughout the region, but Nowruz isn't one of them. 
KAYTE YOUNG: And Nowruz lines up with the Spring Equinox.
MONET GHORBANI: I mean I think that's how it ties to Zoroastrianism because I used to like the solar calendar, but yeah when the Spring Equinox happens like that's the first day. So it lines up completely with the spring equinox. That's why each year like it fluctuates between being on March 20th and March 21st.
KAYTE YOUNG: It sounded like it was a multi-day celebration.
MONET GHORBANI: I'd say that people just kind of like start preparing like the weeks coming up to it, because it is just like such a big holiday in a lot of countries. people grow sabzi, so with unfiltered wheat, just grow some greens. So like that takes some preparation cause you have to do it beforehand.
But also Iranians on the Wednesday before Nowruz, they do like a fire jumping sort of celebration called charshanbe soori, where like the whole idea is your sort of giving your sickness or whatever bad stuff that you have inside of you, you're giving that to the fire, and then you're kind of getting strength from the fire. So that always happens to Wednesday before.
And then Iranians also 13 days after Nowruz, they do Sizdah Be-dar. You're supposed to go out in nature and have a picnic with your family or your loved ones. So that's fun too. It's a nice little appreciation of spring, and the good weather and spending time together. I guess in that sense it kind of encompasses a wider time frame for Iranians. 
A lot of Iranians prepare a haft-sin table, so "haft" means seven, and "sin" is just the word for one of the letters for "s" because there are multiple "s" in the Arabic and Persian alphabets. But yeah, it's just fun.  A lot of people they put a lot of energy into making it look really beautiful, and each of the different elements has symbolic value.
So like on my haft-sin table I had sumac, which was supposed to represent the sunrise I think? Sowa which is a clock which represents time, sabzi which were the greens that I grew which represent growth. Vinegar, the word [Persian] I don't remember what that represents, something. Seer is garlic, it represents health. So like these different objects as well as a candle for each person in the household. So it's just fun and people put a lot of energy into making it look really nice.
I think my motivations for doing it are a little bit different. I don't actually follow the calendar and I'm like the second generation of the diaspora community in the U.S. So for me I think that I do it because it makes me feel very connected to my roots, it reminds me of my grandma. So I'd say that a lot of people do it for that reason as well because of that connection to a broader community and then maybe the blessing aspect of it as well. You can do your own variation of things. I know that some people put like photos, there's like the standard objects but then also you can put like whatever you want on it. 

KAYTE YOUNG: If you're just joining us, I'm speaking with Monet Nazilla Ghorbani. She recently hosted a cooking workshop making a dish associated with a celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. after a short break we'll continue our conversation about the role food plays in helping Monet stay connected to her heritage. Stay with us.
I'm Kayte Young this is Earth Eats, thanks for listening today. we're back with Monet Ghorbani, a graduate student in international studies at IU, who shared her favorite Persian dish in an online cooking workshop as part of a Nowruz celebration this spring. I asked Monet about the role of food in connecting to family traditions. 
MONET GHORBANI: I'm like second generation, and then I'm also mixed. Like my biological dad's side of the family is white, so like I grew up in an Iranian household with my mom and my grandma. But like my experiences are inevitably different from someone who's from Iran or even from someone who like both of their parents are from Iran.
And also I feel like every person in like a diasporic community has a unique experience as well. Just because my mom came and she was quite young, when she was 16 and there's certain things about her that are still like so Iranian, but then there's other things that she like really tried to push away to assimilate. It just kind of feels like there's been this new sort of social shift where everybody's allowed to be proud of their ethnic identity. But like 10 years ago that wasn't the case! like you bring something weird to school and you're embarrassed about it, or you don't want everyone to know that you can speak another language. like you just try to be as normal as possible.
So I think I still up in that on that side of things. And it's taken me awhile to really sort of like lean into my Persian identity, which is been really awesome. and one strong component of that is actually learning how to make the dishes that I grew up eating with my grandma because I don't know if you noticed during the workshop, but I was having a hard time learning how to teach this dish. because it's just kind of like, you throw this in there and you wait until it looks good. but then there's all these questions like how much do I put in there?  how do I know when the onions are golden enough? and those types of things are really hard to explain. 3but growing up like my grandma did that with me. It was like I could help her prepare certain ingredients for a dish. It didn't feel super special at the time.
and my grandma, she is still living. but she's 87 and she has dementia. So we don't really cook together very much anymore. But I could help her sit at the table and prepare greens, or there's another dish called Koobideh [Persian] which uses green beans so you have to cut them up and stuff.
So I'd always help her with that aspect of things, but when she was ready to cook it would just kind of like her doing her magic for four hours. Cause it just takes such a long time to make this stuff, all these different dishes. So I didn't really learn step by step how to make these things cause I just kind of always relied on, when my grandma's over she'll make it, and I'll have this really delicious dish and enjoy it with her. But it's been special in my adulthood to learn how to make these things myself, and then be the one to bring it to my family. 

My grandmother raised me in my really formative years. So I grew up speaking Persian and then I decided to move to Tajikistan when I was like 19 to improve my Persian. because when my grandfather passed away when I was like 17, I wasn't speaking Persian very often. I didn't see them super often and I didn't really know him very much as a person. So when I was older I was like, "I need to fix this, I have to learn my family's language."
so I don't mean to go on all these tangents but it all kind of comes together. So I went to Tajikistan, improved my Persian. Now I've really been able to get to know my grandmother a lot more on a personal level. And I've been able to hear her stories about her childhood and her memories. Which it's interesting, maybe it's different for different people who have dementia, but her short-term memory is not very good, so we don't really talk about things that happened last week, but we'll talk about things that happened like 50 years ago. But it's awesome because I love to hear it. 
so anyway it's so nice. I was just on this long path of improving my language abilities and learning how to do these things that I grew up with and didn't really want to lose.
My younger siblings, I have four younger siblings, and they don't really have that drive to do that I suppose. Maybe because my grandma wasn't around a lot when they were young. They don't really speak any Persian. But still they really love the food. When I made Ash-e for the workshop, I made it the day before so that I would have some to eat with you all at the same time. The day before when I made it, I took it to my family, and they really like that because... food is just a really good way to connect, and a good way to connect to your roots I'd say. And it's really special for my grandma too because she can't really cook that stuff herself anymore. And my mom doesn't really cook for some reason. She's also just really busy. So it's really special for me to have learned how to make these foods and then be the person to take it to them. 
I can't come every day just because I work, and I have a lot of work to do for grad school. So it's really nice to be able to take food that lasts longer than my presence. I can only go for a couple of hours and hang out, but it's nice to be able to leave something that's meaningful and actually lasts a bit longer. 
KAYTE YOUNG: I shared with Monet the experience I had of the dish tasting comforting to me too, even though it's not part of my traditions, and I had never even tasted it before. And how I usually think about comfort food as something from my own past experiences. I wondered what it was about this dish that offered that feeling of comfort.
MONET GHORBANI: Especially with, I feel like any time you start with onions you already know it's gonna be comforting.
I used to work at the I used to work at the Arizona State Senate as a page. Do you know what a page is, or what they do? They're usually like young people who work at State Legislatures. They have them at the national level as well, but they wear typically pretty goofy outfits and they run around the legislature getting things for people. They're usually on the floor with state senators, or in the house too they also have pages. And they're like shuffling papers to and fro, and that sort of thing.

So I with the page when I was 18-19. And we had a multicultural day where everyone was bringing something from their own background into the legislature for lunch. So I asked my grandmother to make us Ash-e Reshteh cause it was like my absolute favorite. And she spent all this time making this huge pot of ash-e, I brought it in, and nobody touched it. Not one person ate it. You can tell that to this day I'm still kind of bitter about it, cause I then had to bring it all the way back home. And in my head I was like, "What am I supposed to do with this?" 
But I was so bummed out because I guess it's easier for people to try something if they've seen the process, but I think for a lot of people there it just kind of looked like this green soup with a lot of beans. But when you try it, it's delicious. But yes, they weren't into it. 
KAYTE YOUNG: Monet had mentioned that her mom wasn't much of a cook.
MONET GHORBANI: She knows it too, she always made fun of herself growing up because she's just a very low patience type of person, so that doesn't' mix well for cooking. So that's also what made my grandma, when she came over, that's also what made her presence so awesome was because when she was over at the house we ate really well. It wasn't just chicken nuggets from the freezer. 
That's another reason I started learning how to cook when I was really young, partially because my mom's inability to cook I guess. And just getting tired of frozen foods. But then also, I think just seeing my grandma and what she was doing. Even though like she never specifically told me step-by-step, like "a tablespoon of this, a tablespoon of that." just like seeing her in the process.
And Persians also really love their gardens. and that's something that my mom was really good at. She wasn't much of a cook but she grew a lot. We had pomegranate trees, plum trees, fig trees, a whole garden with like mints, and a bunch of different greens. We even had a dragon fruit Cactus, and a passion fruit vine. Like lots of stuff. And it was just a regular house in a suburban area. But everything that grew out of the ground, grew something that we can consume. Like grapevines. So my mom is really good at that.
So it was just nice especially for my grandmother, because she used like everything as well. She also in the springtime, when the grapevines would grow new leaves, like new fresh leaves, she would use those for Dolmeth, or other people say dolma. Which is just stuffed grape leaves. And it was just really cool to be able to see her do it from scratch with the grape leaves from our own backyard. 
So yeah to me that's a strong aspect of Persian cuisine I'd say, being able to go to the backyard and chop some mint to throw into whatever my grandmother was making. And I love cooking from fresh foods and ingredients. So I think just like being able to see my family do that was really influential. 

KAYTE YOUNG: Hearing that it made a lot of sense to me why this dish is appropriate for the celebration of Spring's arrival in the Persian new year. The greens in the dish, spinach, parsley, chives, even the mint, they're all cool weather plants that might be far along enough in a spring garden to harvest in time for the equinox, depending on where you live. I cut some fresh chives and parsley from my own herb garden when I made the dish at home.
Our guest today, Monet Nazilla Ghorbani is the president of the Navruz Student Association at Indiana University. She's a second-year graduate student in International Affairs. Monet is graduating this spring and will be joining the foreign service as a Pickering foreign affairs fellow. You can find the recipe for Ash-e Reshteh at EarthEats.org. 

Six years ago the state of Illinois embarked on a plan to reduce agriculture fertilizer runoff into waterways. But so far the efforts haven't worked. Harvest Public Media's Dana Cronin reports on how Illinois and other Mississippi river basin states got off track. 

DANA CRONIN: A tile drainage pipe ushers runoff from a central Illinois farm into the east branch in Embarrass River. This water will flow through the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers before ending up in the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen and phosphorous levels will build as the water passes through more and more fertilizer laden farmland. Which after nourishing crops results in a dead zone off the coast of Texas and Louisiana. 
JOE ROTHERMEL: So this is cereal rye. 
DANA CRONIN: Joe Rothermel's farm partially drains into that east branch of Embarrass. Of his 1100-acre corn and soybean operation, he plants cover crops on 800 of those acres. 
JOE ROTHERMEL: Very good for suppressing weeds, holding in moisture. 
DANA CRONIN: By preventing soil erosion, cover crops help reduce Rothermels' pollution into the river. But despite his and other farmers' efforts, agriculture is still the largest contributor to nutrient runoff. Which is why many Mississippi River Basin States have adopted plans to reduce their impact on the gulf's dead zone, including Illinois. The basic goal of Illinois nutrient loss reduction strategy is to cut nitrogen and phosphorous loads almost in half. More immediately the aim is to reduce nitrogen by 15% and phosphorous by 25% in the next four years. But so far it's not working. In fact the situation is getting worse. 
TREVOR SAMPLE: Unfortunately right now no, we're actually going the other way. 
DANA CRONIN: Trevor Sample is with Illinois environmental Protection Agency and coordinates the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. He says between 2015 and 2019, nitrogen and phosphorous loads have increased by 13% and 37% respectively compared to the baseline numbers. 
TREVOR SAMPLE: And a lot of that is because we're seeing increases in flows. 
DANA CRONIN: The massive amount of rain in 2019 meant that more water flowed into rivers, 25% more to be exact. And with that increased flow comes increased nutrients. But there are other reasons Illinois hasn't yet improved its water quality. Including a lack of money. By comparison, Iowa has dedicated 270 million dollars to improving water quality. Jennifer Jones does watershed outreach with University of Illinois Extension. She says that money makes a big difference. 
JENNIFER JONES: Whenever you look at Iowa for example, it's just incredible to see the work that we've been able to do in Illinois without assistance from maybe the state level as much. 
DANA CRONIN: While Illinois does fund some conservation programs, there's currently no state money going directly to reducing nutrient runoff. Right now the state is mostly relying on education. And that's what makes Jones's job so important. She helps make a podcast dedicated to the issue. 
(Podcast clip)
ANNOUNCER: This is the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast, episode 25, I'm covering the benefits of cover crops. 
DANA CRONIN: The podcast covers everything from the benefits of constructed wetlands to which cover crops to plant. More resources like this are needed, says Michael Woods who manages the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Division. A recent Illinois State University survey found that fewer than half of Illinois farmers had even heard of the strategy. 
MICHEAL WOODS: The success of this initiative and the success of protecting our environment while sustaining our agricultural operations really comes down to education. 
DANA CRONIN: Joe Rothermel, the central Illinois farmer thinks it will also take financial incentives and technological advances. And he says we can't leave all of that up to farmers. 
JOE ROTHERMEL: Conservation is not free. As farmers you're gonna have to pay for this themselves or somebody else is gonna have to pay or help pay. And I'm not sure it should be totally on the farmer. 
DANA CRONIN: Rothermel says he's hopeful the new Biden administration will contribute federal dollars to conservation programs, including programs aimed at cutting down on farm runoff. I'm Dana Cronin, Harvest Public Media. 
KAYTE YOUNG: This story is part 5 of Harvest Public Media's multipart series on rivers and waterways in agriculture. Find more on this series at HarvestPublicMedia.org. 
That's it for our show, thanks for listening. 

(Earth Eats theme music, composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey)

RENEE REED: The Earth Eats team includes Eobon Binder, Toby Foster, Abraham Hill, Payton Knobeloch, Josephine McRobbie, Harvest Public Media and me, Renee Reed. 
KAYTE YOUNG: Special thanks this week to Monet Nazilla Ghorbani, and everyone in the Ash-e Reshteh workshop. 
RENEE REED: Our theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey. Additional music on the show comes to us from the artist at Universal Productions Music. Earth Eats is produced and edited by Kayte Young and our executive producer is John Bailey.