Earlier I talked about certain cultural norms to observe if invited over to an Iranian person's house. Here I will talk about a few of the cultural aspects of being invited to dinner.
At first I was caught off guard by the first stipulation the website mentions (still the same website from the first culture post). This rule is to check whether the host is wearing shoes or not. If they are not, you are to remove your shoes at the door. After I thought about this though, I realized that this is something I do subconsciously already. I think it's because my mom was always strict about us taking our shoes off in the house. I guess I got used to looking around at my friends' houses to see if I was allowed to keep my shoes on when I arrived.
I greatly appreciate the second aspect of Iranian dining norms. It is to arrive punctually. It's not that I'm an extremely punctual person but coming from a monochronic society, I think it would be difficult for me to figure out when things actually started in a polychronic society.
Before arriving you should also check to see if your spouse is allowed to attend becasue normally conservative Iranians don't entertain mixed-sex groups. When you do arrive though, you are supposed to greet the elders first and shake everyone's hand. You should also accept offers of food or drink but only within adhering to the "taarof" stipulations of politeness.
When you are about to sit down you should wait to be told where to sit. Meals are generally family style so you should take a little bit of everything that is served and eat only with the right hand. Because Iranian hospitality includes having an abundance of food, you will probably be offerd more. You should accept some more but again, only after adhering to "taarof" or Iranian politeness standards first. When you finish eating you should also leave some food on your plate (which shouldn't be an issue assuming you will have already accepted more food than you can eat anyway). Finally, in restaurants there are usually two sections. One is for women and families, the other is for men only. Tipping in Iranian restaurants is usually between 10 and 15%.
As promised, in the next post I will talk about business negotiations in Iran.
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