Iran bans state TV from teaching foreign recipes

A state-owned news website says Iran's broadcasting authority has banned Iranian TV channels from showing cooking programs that present recipes for foreign cuisine, The Associated Press reports. Jamejamonline reported late Saturday that the deputy head of Iran's state broadcasting company, Ali Darabi, announced the ban during a visit to one of the country's 30 state-run TV channels. Some cooking programs on Iranian stations present recipes for foreign cuisine, such as Italian and French. The ban is seen as part of a nationalistic campaign increasingly pushed by Iran's government in recent years. Pizza, pasta and Western fast foods like hamburgers and hot-dogs are popular in Iran, and Tehran boasts many restaurants that serve Western or Asian food.