Highlights
- Four UK hospitality professionals organise statement signed by over 50 globally.
- Food experts link environmental damage in Iran to loss of culinary traditions.
- Industry backs Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi's Iran Prosperity Project.
Ashkan Ashtari, Piers Zangana, Hami Sharafi and Alireza Sarrafan brought the statement together. Chefs, restaurant owners and food workers from Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australia have signed it.
Many of those involved work in the UK hospitality sector, where lots of Iranian-owned restaurants, cafés and food shops do business.
Environmental and cultural concerns
Those who signed the statement say their worries go beyond just politics. They point out how years of poor governance and bad economic decisions have hurt Iran's farming, environment and food production. These problems strike at the heart of the culinary heritage their work depends on.
Ashkan Ashtari, who works as a consultant chef and helped organise the statement, told Hospitality and Catering News "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 talks about serious environmental troubles that have built up over time. Water is running out, soil quality is getting worse, and farming is declining.
These issues hurt farmers and food makers throughout Iran. The document also looks at money troubles and restrictions that affect small businesses and hospitality workers inside the country.
Piers Zangana started the Persian Hospitality Network. He noted "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."
The food professionals support ideas put forward by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile.
His Iran Prosperity Project offers detailed plans covering how to run the government, security matters, the economy and society. The aim is to help rebuild Iran.
Those who organised the statement say food culture cannot do well on the world stage when the country it comes from faces environmental breakdown and money problems.
