Nowruz is the Persian New Year, welcoming spring with a feast built around fresh herbs and symbols of renewal. The table brings fragrant sabzi polo with fish, kuku sabzi packed with dill and parsley, ash reshteh soup, and sweet pastries. Browse what to cook for a new beginning.
Quick answer
The classic is sabzi polo — herbed rice served with fish — plus kuku sabzi (an herb frittata), ash reshteh soup with noodles and legumes, and sweets like baklava. The dishes all lean on spring and fresh herbs.
Herbs stand for renewal and new growth. Dill, parsley, cilantro, and chives go into the rice and the kuku so spring shows up in every bite.
It falls on the spring equinox, usually around March 20. The feast starts at the haft-sin table and moves on to herb-forward dishes and sweet pastries.
A festive table of seven symbolic items whose Persian names start with the letter S — sprouted wheat, apple, garlic, vinegar, sumac, and more. It's not a menu to eat but a display wishing health, abundance, and a fresh start.