If you happen to find yourself exploring the streets of Iran in the early morning hours, you’ll begin to see a fair amount of locals queuing up for their traditional breakfast soup, kaleh pacheh. Assembled from sheep hooves and heads (including the coveted eyes, tongue, and brain), this caloric bomb provides the energy boost workers seek to power through the day. Vendors start selling steaming bowls of “head and hooves” soup before dawn, with most restaurants opening around 3:00 a.m. Don’t be late: Arrive near their closing time of 9:00 a.m., and you’ll likely be told to come back the next day. With the preparation process being quite a time-consuming task, the proprietors of these these steaming bowls of trotters spend the majority of the night prepping for the onslaught of customers in the early hours.
