A Taste of Azerbaijani Culture

Azerbaijan sits at a crossroads between East and West. While the Caucuses country was a part of the Soviet Union, the local culture combines elements that are not only European but also like Turkish and Persian culture. For example, tea is drunk by every Azerbaijani family, but no one locally drinks Turkish coffee. The coffee that is served is more European than Turkish. However, their tea is more Eastern and not like British tea at all. This tea is served in special Azerbaijani tea houses. The tea is served with sugar cubes on the side. No one places spoons of sugar in tea over there.      

The Azerbaijani rice is also remarkably different from the Sephardic red rice, which we are used to eating in the State of Israel. Instead of being red, Azerbaijani rice is usually served plain with saffron. Sometimes, they will add dried fruits to the rice. They also have a yoghurt soda, which is quite tasty. Turkish Pide, Cigars, and other Turkish foods are not eaten in Azerbaijan, where the cuisine is more like Persian food. However, the Azeri language is a Turkic language, and not at all like Persian. In fact, a Turkish and Azerbaijani person can understand one another in many instances, even though the languages are not identical.

However, even though Azerbaijan is in the East, Baku is structured like a major European city, complete with lovely parks, boulevards, hotels, shops, cafes, restaurants, museums, and historic landmarks.  

One of the highlights to see in Baku is the Maiden’s Tower, which has an uncanny resemblance to Rapunzel’s Tower, only with a sad ending. In the 12th century, a father did not want his daughter to marry her lover, so he locked her up in a tower. The lover, feeling sad for his beloved, tried to free her from the tower. However, the girl upon seeing her lover jumped to her death and did not wait to get liberated. Today, the tower where she got locked up is a major tourist attraction in Baku and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Another major tourist attraction is Baku’s Carpet Museum, which displays different carpets that were produced throughout Azerbaijani history. For Azerbaijanis, their carpets are a major source of national pride, as their women produce them by hand and then they are exported throughout the world.  Inside Baku’s Old City, there is a Flying Carpet Shop, which is owned by a man named Ramin, who is willing to sell antique Azerbaijani carpets to customers around the globe. He even sells historic Karabakh carpets, which date to the Soviet period prior to the First Karabakh War.