What it means
خوراک (khorâk) has two overlapping uses. In a restaurant or kitchen context it refers to a prepared dish, usually a stew, braise, or cooked meat served as a main course, specifically one that does not include rice as a built-in base. In a broader sense it can mean any foodstuff or edible substance. The word is pure Persian, formed from خوردن (khordan, “to eat”) with the common nominalizing suffix -âk, which also appears in خوراکی (khorâki, “edible, snack”). A close near-synonym in the “dish” sense is غذا (ghazâ), which is Arabic in origin and somewhat more general. خوراک often implies a specifically Iranian-style preparation, such as خوراک مرغ (khorâk-e morg, braised chicken) or خوراک گوشت (khorâk-e gusht, meat dish).
How to use it
- خوراک مرغ امروز خیلی خوشمزهست. (khorâk-e morg emruz kheyli khoshmaze-st.) “The chicken dish today is very tasty.”
- این خوراکیا رو از بازار خریدم. (in khorâkiâ ro az bâzâr kharidam.) “I bought these food items from the market.”
- خوراک برای چند نفره؟ (khorâk barâye chand nafar-e?) “How many people is this dish for?”
- خوراک بدون برنج سفارش دادم. (khorâk bedune berenj sefâresh dâdam.) “I ordered the dish without rice.”
Cultural note
In classical Persian literature and formal texts خوراک can refer to provisions or rations in a military or agricultural sense, but in modern Iranian cooking it most commonly labels braised or stewed preparations that accompany plain rice. Many traditional Iranian dishes carry the name خوراک on restaurant menus to distinguish them from khoresh (خورش), which is a sauce-based stew designed specifically to be ladled over rice. The distinction is subtle and varies by region, but خوراک tends to imply a drier preparation that can stand alone.