Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Meanness Tints the World Inhuman

      February 15, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Outstaring Darkness

      February 14, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Foster Care: Not All Families Belong Together

      February 14, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: In Your Sleep: A Me Too Story By a Woman with Developmental Disabilities

      February 13, 2019

      Introspection

      A Review of My New Yorker Subscription

      October 10, 2018

      Introspection

      Mausoleum

      July 24, 2018

      Introspection

      On Weather: Creeping Cedar

      July 1, 2018

      Introspection

      Life Writing: A Visit From My Nancy

      June 1, 2018

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: Serious Inquiries Only, Please!

      February 15, 2019

      Fiction

      Mourning Morning

      February 13, 2019

      Fiction

      The Birds: Baby Bird

      February 13, 2019

      Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: The Secret Storm

      February 8, 2019

      Fiction

      Home Economics

      February 6, 2019

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Meanness Tints the World Inhuman

      February 15, 2019

      Review

      What Mishima Teaches Us About Love

      February 14, 2019

      Review

      The Silences that Amount to Us: F. Guevara’s Reddest Herring

      February 11, 2019

      Review

      Review: Joseph by Dena Rash Guzman

      February 7, 2019

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      MOUTH: EATS COLOR and the Devoration of Languages

      January 12, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Stubborn Mule Press

      February 12, 2019

      Small Press

      Thirty West Publishing House

      January 29, 2019

      Small Press

      Arte Público Press

      January 15, 2019

      Small Press

      FutureCycle Press

      January 3, 2019

      Small Press

      Green Linden Press

      December 17, 2018

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Featured

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 11 (Karma Police)

        November 3, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 11 (Karma Police)

        November 3, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 10 (Pretty Vacant)

        October 27, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 9 (Savoy Truffle)

        October 20, 2018

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place

        September 3, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Downpour: Biography of a Place

        August 3, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Meanness Tints the World Inhuman

      February 15, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Outstaring Darkness

      February 14, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Foster Care: Not All Families Belong Together

      February 14, 2019

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: In Your Sleep: A Me Too Story By a Woman with Developmental Disabilities

      February 13, 2019

      Introspection

      A Review of My New Yorker Subscription

      October 10, 2018

      Introspection

      Mausoleum

      July 24, 2018

      Introspection

      On Weather: Creeping Cedar

      July 1, 2018

      Introspection

      Life Writing: A Visit From My Nancy

      June 1, 2018

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: Serious Inquiries Only, Please!

      February 15, 2019

      Fiction

      Mourning Morning

      February 13, 2019

      Fiction

      The Birds: Baby Bird

      February 13, 2019

      Fiction

      BLACKCACKLE: The Secret Storm

      February 8, 2019

      Fiction

      Home Economics

      February 6, 2019

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Meanness Tints the World Inhuman

      February 15, 2019

      Review

      What Mishima Teaches Us About Love

      February 14, 2019

      Review

      The Silences that Amount to Us: F. Guevara’s Reddest Herring

      February 11, 2019

      Review

      Review: Joseph by Dena Rash Guzman

      February 7, 2019

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      MOUTH: EATS COLOR and the Devoration of Languages

      January 12, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Stubborn Mule Press

      February 12, 2019

      Small Press

      Thirty West Publishing House

      January 29, 2019

      Small Press

      Arte Público Press

      January 15, 2019

      Small Press

      FutureCycle Press

      January 3, 2019

      Small Press

      Green Linden Press

      December 17, 2018

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Featured

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 11 (Karma Police)

        November 3, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 11 (Karma Police)

        November 3, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 10 (Pretty Vacant)

        October 27, 2018

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 9 (Savoy Truffle)

        October 20, 2018

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place

        September 3, 2018

        Video Games

        Silent Hill Downpour: Biography of a Place

        August 3, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
FeaturedFood

Dinnerview: Kaveh Akbar

written by Danielle Susi August 16, 2017

Kaveh Akbar’s poems appear recently in The New Yorker, Poetry, APR, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. His debut full-length, Calling a Wolf a Wolf, will be published by Alice James Books in September. He is also the author of the chapbook Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry). The recipient of a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and currently teaches in the MFA program at Purdue University.

Here, he talks about pilgrimages to Persian restaurants, salty-sweet ice cream combos, and watching movies at a Chinese buffet.

On his all-time favorite meal:

It’s not one specific meal, but as a boy I grew up largely in the Midwest, first in and around Milwaukee and then in Indiana. And every year, once or twice a year, we would make a pilgrimage to Chicago expressly to go to Reza’s Restaurant, the only real Persian restaurant within driving distance of us (sometimes a four or six hour drive each way). I’d look forward to the trips for weeks ahead of time. I’d eat fessenjan, lamb shank, ghormeh sabzi, ghaimeh—Persian food is just the perfect thing, I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t loved it. Always, at the ends of meals, we’d get desserts, bahmieh and zoolibieh. My family was always so happy. The word for “cardamom” in Farsi is pronounced “hell,” and my dad would always get a kick at the end of the meal out of asking the server for “hell tea.” Those trips were my favorite things in the world, I’d get to just read the whole way there and usually pass out for most of the trip back home.

On snacking while writing:

For whatever reason, I write better on an empty stomach. I do drink pots and pots of tea—I like milk oolong and Paris breakfast tea, depending on how much caffeine I need.

On his go-to late-night snack:

Carrots and hummus or a sliced cucumber with a little salt, if I’m being good. Ice cream if I’m being real. Cookie dough is my go-to base flavor, but I’m pretty adventurous. I had a goat cheese and olive oil ice cream in LA a couple weeks ago that was way better than it sounds. I generally enjoy salty-sweet ice cream flavors over fruity. Peanut-butter chocolate, pretzel.

On his food quirks:

One of my secret favorite things to do is to put a movie on my laptop, then go to a cheap Chinese buffet and just plant for two hours, watching my movie with headphones, slowly grazing on small plates of this and that. It’s almost like a Zen thing for me. I shut off my phone and just fall into a beautiful peaceful place, slowly sipping egg drop soup and picking at bowls of fruit.

Tell me about your last meal request? Where are you eating it? Who are you eating with?

I’ve weirdly thought a lot about this. I think I’d be eating a bowl of the lamb noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods in New York, along with a hearty portion of fessenjan (pomegranate and walnut stew) from Reza’s Restaurant served on my mother’s tadig (a kind of Persian hard rice). For dessert, the entirety of one of my mother’s Tollhouse pies. And some cardamom-heavy tea. Hopefully I’m eating it somewhere bright and surrounded by books and with my partner, who would also likely be eating fessenjan—with cookie dough ice cream and gummy bears for dessert. I think we’d be watching an episode of The Simpsons.

Dinnerview: Kaveh Akbar was last modified: August 16th, 2017 by Danielle Susi
Chinese buffetDanielle SusiDinnerviewKaveh AkbarPersian foodtea
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Danielle Susi

Danielle Susi is the author of the chapbook The Month in Which We Are Born (dancing girl press, 2015). Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Knee-Jerk Magazine, Hobart, and The Rumpus, among many other publications. She received her MFA in writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Newcity has named her among the Top 5 Emerging Chicago Poets. Find her online at daniellesusi.com

previous post
Tell Me It’s Over
next post
Home is a circle in the sand (excerpt)

You may also like

Goodbyes, good lies, and God lies

November 2, 2016

Splendid Grub: Potato Chips in Good China

January 14, 2018

The Perfect Sandwich: Ode to the Hickory Farms Beef Stick and Dads Who Can’t Cook

June 15, 2018

Dinnerview: Toby Altman

March 15, 2017
Facebook Twitter

Recent Comments

  • adelaidedupont Gurba's memoir of Mean is so spot-on, especially this part:
    Gurba argues that even though someone is mean they don’t deserve to be dehumanized. This is shown by the way her younger,...

    Meanness Tints the World Inhuman ·  February 17, 2019

  • Wizard Jaislin I had a really weird dream. i was taking a walk in terrace when on the moon i saw eye of horus. as i moved the eye moved . the moon was red and i was scared,but i felt like it was trying to tell me...

    GOTHIDEAS: Dream Interpretation ·  February 10, 2019

  • 4859 Heh. Snowed in and started playing shattered memories again. Surprised to see such a recent article on the game. It really was a great game. Still ranks of one of the best uses of videogames as a...

    Silent Hill Shattered Memories: Biography of a Place ·  February 8, 2019

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Sunday Entropy List
  • Dinnerview
  • Variations on a Theme
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • Disarticulations
  • On Weather
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Birdwolf
  • Session Report series
  • Literacy Narrative
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Small Press Releases
  • WOVEN
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Notes On Motherhood
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • Best of 2018
  • The Weird Interview
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Pop Talks
  • The Concept World is No Longer Operational
  • Splendid Grub
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • Foster Care
  • The Talking Cure
  • D&D with Entropy
  • Stars to Stories

Tweets

  • Oscar Snub Sunday: Can You Ever Forgive Me? - https://t.co/KrpahtYGcS

    17-Feb-2019

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • "From this point on, your job will be to care for these worms that will hopefully contain some of my cellular memor… https://t.co/WKsfbl1xDO

    17-Feb-2019

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • We have a few free, no-cost ad slots available again for small presses and literary journals. DM us if you're inter… https://t.co/e6p6T4jfaJ

    15-Feb-2019

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • Meanness Tints the World Inhuman - https://t.co/EVW7I0MfqO

    15-Feb-2019

    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • Mini-Syllabus: Query into Academic Queer History - https://t.co/CDU8y8Dog7

    15-Feb-2019

    Reply Retweet Favorite

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2019 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.


Back To Top