Our Short Story for Mindful Conscious Diners
Sabzy means Green Herbs and Persian Food is the only food culture in the world preparing, serving, and consuming raw green herbs throughout the day with every meal. Persian food is the most ancient food in the world originated from an era and a region known as the Cradle of Agriculture that led to the Cradle of Civilization after the domestication of animals and plants. Persian food has influenced all of the Middle East and Mediterranean Regions and their Food Culture as well. There are many popular food related vocabularies commonly used around the world derived from Persian language such as Sabzy, Sikh Kabob, Kuf-teh, Naan, Chai, Ad-vee-yeh, Sumac, Saffron, Biryani, Paneer, Yogurt, Po-low, Ghormeh, Caviar, Tarragon, Gunny, and the list goes on.
The word Sabzy derives from the word Sabz meaning Green. In fact, Sabzy Persian Grill has been a very sustainable environmentally friendly restaurant, preparing and serving home-style food while practicing our basic business model FRESH, GREEN, CLEAN and LEAN.
Sabzy family uses low salt, no sugar added, no preservatives, no MSG, no artificial colour or flavour, gluten free, and absolutely No Canned Food. Sabzy also prepares vegetarian and vegan Dishes on a daily basis.
Our Sabzy family has been offering home style hospitality by building a positive and educative relationship with employees and highly valued clients who choose to dine with us regularly.
Food Connects Everything and Everyone
Persian hospitality is best defined in its Tea drinking traditions, therefore we serve a signature Persian Tea that is a house blend of seven different black teas with Guatemalan Green Cardamom. This tea is known as a Silk Road Blend.
Our signature tea is available for sale at all times so as our other goodies such as Green Jumbo Cardamom, Barberry, Seven Heaven Tor-shee (Pickled Veggies), Sun Dried Lime, Pickled aged garlic, and much more…m
We are also known for the quality of our rice and its preparation method. We only use the highest quality of Golden Basmati non-sticky Rice that is unbleached, GMO Free with more protein and fibre values and the least amount of starch. We prepare our rice very diligently and serve it with purest raw form of Saffron. In fact our method of rice preparation is something you would only experience in a Persian home cooking.
Fresh green herbs are important and essential for all living creatures, for that reason we have preserved the Traditional Naan, Paneer & Sabzy on the menu. Green herbs help in digestion and cleansing of digestive system and make our body more alkaline for boosting our energy, strengthening our immune system and revitalizing our mood to be happier. (A nice reading: Green for Life: The updated classic on Green smoothie nutrition by Victoria Boutenko, Author of 12 steps to raw foods and green smoothie revolution, 2005 – 2010)
Sabzy has always used the best of Saffron known as the Red Gold. It is the most expensive herb or spice in the world. We have only been using the Head of Saffron (sar-gol) from the City of Gha-en in the Province of Khorassan (the province of Rising Sun as the main Origin of Saffron). Saffron is well known for its diverse medicinal effects. One of its most popular one is known as the Medicine of Laughter or happiness and also is valued as the most natural medicine for preventing or treating depression. If you are interested in buying Saffron from us please call in advance to make sure we have it in stock.
We also make our own home style Saffron Pistachio Ice Cream. The Pistachio that is used in this Ice Cream and some other speciality dishes is the most expensive green raw pistachio. Pistachios are well known for an anti-aging effect which make it a guilt free treat to have in a scoop of our Saffron Pistachio ice cream.
When we opened the first Persian Restaurant in Edmonton in 2008 on Whyte Avenue, we quickly were embraced by some conscious diners who realized our care and love for the use of only natural food ingredients in all of our cuisines. We knew Canadians love their local businesses and their locally produced ingredients. Some of the many local ingredients we use are Sumac, Barberry, Wild Rose, Tarragon, Hog Weed, etc…
One of the biggest secret of Sabzy as being a unique Persian Restaurant in the world, is the use of a variety of fresh fruits as the most natural ingredient for marinating Kabobs and preparation of some stews and soups. This is a Sabzy Family Practice and we are happy to share it with our clients.
Persians love sour foods and fruits and they make variety of vinaigrette pickles known as Tor-shee (pickled veggies) using fresh fruits, green herbs, seeds of green herbs, root crops, other vegetables and a few spices. Tor-shee is a great appetite enhancer assuring a joyful dining experience. Sabzy makes a very unique Tor-shee known as Seven Heaven and it is NOT spicy.
How dairy plays a role in the Persian culture. We serve a drink known as Doogh. It is simply a mix of yogurt and water with some exotic dried herbs and preferably with fresh Mint and Tarragon. Our house made doogh is one of a kind and for ease of consumption for the unfamiliar we have made it un-carbonated. This drink is also prepared in different ways and labeled differently in many other countries. It is Very calcium rich and good for digestion during a meal.
Food presentation by Persian tradition is extremely important for Sabzy. The food will be served with care and love and each dish is prepared specifically to your order.
We go beyond the menu, we prepare special dishes for groups of 10 and more. We provide you with an extraordinary fruitful and memorable food journey for your dinning experience. We also highly recommend to vegans and vegetarians to discuss their food needs so we can make some of the most authentic ancient vegan and vegetarian Persian Cuisines for them. (A nice read for you: Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian/Vegan Journey by Najmieh Batmanglij, 2002 – 2011).
Persian cuisines, when made home style are at their highest quality. Home style cooking follows its ancient root to be a balanced food like Yin and Yang in Chinese culture. For instance, Fe-sen-jaan (colloquially pronounced Fe-sen-joon) translates to a combination of walnut and pomegranate stew. It could be made with Chicken, Lamb, Goat, Beef, Duck, Turkey, or Fish. But also it could be prepared as vegan or a vegetarian-friendly stew. This stew is also Gluten Free and suitable for celiac people. It is considered as a very balanced energy food particularly for winter or cold environments and usually served with Saffron rice mixed with Barberries.
Sabzy has also introduced many ancient cultural Persian celebrations and the type of foods or fruits that are associated with such cultural events. For instance, Pomegranate originated in Persia and is known as the fruit of patience, love and romance and valued highly for its medicinal effect. Like our ancestors, we love to eat fresh pomegranate throughout the Fall particularly during the Persian Thanksgiving known as the celebration of Meh-re-gun. This event is reminding us the Kindness of the Nourishing Mother Nature and begins during harvest season around September 22 the first day of Autumn. Pomegranate, variety of grapes and melons will also be eaten on the winter solstice on December 21 during the night of Yalda (the victory of Light over Darkness). Pomegranate is a sacred fruit teaching us patience and passion.
Sabzy has been introducing not only Persian Food but particularly the Persian Culture to Edmonton for the first time since 2008. For instance ancient cultural events including Nurooz (Persian New Year) and Che-haar-Shan-beh Sue-ree (the last Wednesday of the year for cleansing) are some of the many events we have been celebrating in the restaurant.
In Good Thought, Good Word, and Good Deed…..we wish to serve you and your family soon.
Food Connects Everything and Everyone
Ahmad Sabetghadam, PhD
Intercultural/International Education
University of Alberta
CEO, Sabzy Persian Grill
Known as Uncle Ben with more than 30 years of life experience and knowledge while sharing and offering an all-inclusive wisdom about how to be your own Food Doctor mindfully, joyfully, and fruitfully at all times.
