Director: ShowBox

Cast: Mark Wiens

Street Food in Rasht / Tabriz is a 2021 Iranian documentary food film featuring travel host Mark Wiens exploring the culinary heart of Iran — from the storied Bazaar of Tabriz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to the bustling street kitchens of the Caspian coast city of Rasht, famed for its rich and distinctive Persian cuisine.

What is Street Food in RASHT Mark Wiens about?

Mark Wiens arrives in the ancient northwestern city of Tabriz, one of the great trading crossroads of the Silk Road era, to wander its sprawling historic bazaar — still alive and thriving much as it has been for centuries. He samples the bold flavors of Azerbaijani-Persian cooking: slow-cooked stews, herb-heavy dishes, and freshly baked breads sold from stalls that have occupied the same vaulted corridors for generations. The journey extends to Rasht, the green and rainy capital of Gilan province, where local cooks serve hyper-regional dishes — walnut-laden stews, pickled garlic, herb frittatas — that set northern Iranian food apart from the rest of the country. Throughout, Wiens engages with vendors and home cooks, uncovering the stories behind each dish.

Cast & crew

Mark Wiens is a Bangkok-based American food traveler and YouTube creator known for his enthusiastic, respectful approach to street food culture worldwide. He brings genuine curiosity and warmth to every market visit. The documentary is unscripted and host-driven, with Wiens doing much of his own research and on-camera translation work alongside local guides.

Context & significance

For the Iranian diaspora, watching a foreign food host genuinely celebrate the depth of Persian and Azerbaijani-Iranian cuisine carries real emotional weight. Tabriz's bazaar is not a tourist attraction staged for cameras — it is a living economic and cultural hub that has operated continuously since medieval times, and seeing it treated with seriousness resonates strongly. Rasht, meanwhile, holds a special place in the hearts of Gilani Iranians abroad: its hyper-local cooking traditions are rarely documented outside Iran, and this film gives those flavors a wider audience. The episode sits within a broader wave of food-travel content that has helped place Iranian cuisine on the global map.

Where & how to watch

This documentary is available on K-Time — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, no extra download required. Stream it on your TV, computer, or phone. Audio is in English with no Persian subtitles included. A K-Time subscription lets you cancel anytime.