More than 50 Iranian chefs, restaurateurs, café owners, bakers, writers and hospitality professionals from the UK and across the world have signed a global statement of solidarity with the people of Iran, many of whom continue to call for political change in the country.
The statement has been organised by UK-based hospitality professionals Ashkan Ashtari, Piers Zangana, Hami Sharafi and Alireza Sarrafan, and is supported by a significant number of UK-based chefs, restaurateurs and food professionals, alongside colleagues working across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australia.
While international in scope, the statement is rooted in the UK hospitality sector, where many Iranian-owned restaurants, cafés and food businesses operate, and where a number of the organisers and signatories are based.
These include: Kourosh Afshari, Founder, KombuHeritage; Aarsalan Alikomak, Director & Restraunter, Colbeh; Shabi Amini, Food Blogger; Ashkan Ashtari, Chef; Peyman Darban, Café Owner, White Mulberries; Rana Darban, Café Owner, White Mulberries; Shayan Ghadimi-Tavassoli, Massiha Ghasemi, Chef & Director, Shemroon Kitchen; Datis Gol, Brewer and Founder, Shiraz Beer; Fareed Hashemi, Chef & Food Blogger; Sara Kiani, Café Owner, Kiani Tea; Noda Marvani, Chef & Restauranter, Koocha Mezze Bar; Sogand Najafnia, Pastry Chef; Sana Pishgoo, Pastry Chef & Owner, Shiraz Patiserrie; Nima Safaei, Chef & Restauranter; Bahar Sarhangi, Director, Meykade; Alireza Sarrafan, TV Chef & Food Journalist; Piers Zangana, Journalist & PR, Susa Comms.
The statement brings together professionals from across the hospitality industry – from independent café owners and pastry chefs to executive chefs, brewers, importers, writers and educators – to express collective solidarity with people in Iran.
The signatories state that their position is shaped not only by political concerns, but by the direct impact that decades of governance and economic mismanagement have had on Iran’s agriculture, environment, food production and culinary heritage – the very foundations of their work as hospitality professionals.
The food professionals also endorse proposals put forward by exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi through his ‘Iran Prosperity Project’ – a comprehensive blueprint developed to help rebuild Iran – covering governance, security, security, economy and society.
Piers Zangana, founder of the Persian Hospitality Network and Susa Comms, said: “Hospitality is an international industry built on people, movement, exchange and public space. What this statement shows is that Iranian hospitality professionals across the world are connected, and that they are paying attention to what is happening in Iran.
“This is about solidarity with people who are asking for change, and about recognising that food culture does not exist in isolation from the political and environmental conditions of the country it comes from.”
Ashkan Ashtari, consultant chef and one of the organisers of the statement, said: “Corruption and mismanagement have driven environmental decline, water bankruptcy and erosion of agricultural systems that underpin Iranian food culture.
“The statement is not just about food. It is about a country, the risk of its cultural erasure, and most importantly the people whose lives and livelihoods are directly affected by it.”
The statement points to long-term environmental mismanagement, including water depletion, soil degradation and agricultural decline, which have affected farmers, food producers and rural livelihoods across Iran. It also highlights the wider economic pressures and restrictions that have affected small businesses, food producers and hospitality workers inside the country.
For those working internationally in Iranian food and hospitality, the statement argues that food cannot be separated from the land, people and systems that produce it.
The signatories describe their position as one of professional as well as personal responsibility, stating that a cuisine cannot thrive internationally while the country it comes from faces environmental collapse, economic hardship and political repression.
The statement has now been signed by more than 50 hospitality professionals globally, with strong representation from the UK hospitality sector, and is intended as a collective act of solidarity from within an industry built around culture, public space and community.
The organisers say the aim is to demonstrate that Iranian hospitality professionals around the world stand in solidarity with the people of Iran who are calling for fundamental change, and to highlight the link between political conditions, environmental stewardship, agriculture and the future of one of the world’s oldest food cultures.
The full statement and list of signatories can be read here.
