Hello and welcome to Saffron & Herbs. A site dedicated to recipes from the Mediterranean, Middle East and South Asia.
Mersedeh Prewer – Founder of Saffron & Herbs
Hello! My name is Mersedeh and I am an ethnically Persian, second generation Iranian born and raised in the UK.
One of the biggest features of my Iranian upbringing was food. We are a family that lives to eat and gather frequently to celebrate our rich cuisine and culture. I grew up watching and helping my mother cook feasts for family gatherings and as soon as I could I was creating what I had learnt in the kitchen.
How Saffron & Herbs Came About?
The catalyst to start this site came after I became a mother in 2019 and the onset of the pandemic 6 months into maternity leave. The proverbial ‘village’ who were going to help me bring up my daughter with weekly family gatherings, eating, drinking and dancing were shut away.
My daughter is mixed-race (Persian/English) so the 2019 turn of events sent me on a journey to connect with my heritage and introduce it to my daughter through the medium of food, an area which many in the diaspora find it easy to connect to their heritage. I wanted a place for all the recipes I grew up with to be available for my daughter and other younger family members.
Over the time this site has naturally expanded to cuisines I am passionate about and grown up with from the Mediterranean through to South Asian.
Other Work
I have also developed recipes for other sites including The Kitchn and Simply Recipes. See my other published recipes here: