Yogurt & Whey

A Los Angeles Times Best Cookbook of 2023 • A WBUR Here & Now Best Cookbook of 2023 • One of Eater's 12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2023

A collection of recipes reflecting a life affected by immigration, community, adaptation, and experimentation—and sublime, old-world, creamy yogurt.

As founder of much-loved The White Moustache Yogurt company, Homa Dashtaki employs the same traditionally Iranian methods of making yogurt that her family has for generations in her kitchen today. Her passion culminates in inspiring the use of a new ingredient: whey, the liquid gold extracted from straining homemade yogurt. Across 100 recipes ranging from ancient see-rogh to rum cocktails, ghormeh sabzi to lemon meringue pie, Dashtaki weaves in and out of nostalgic and innovative dishes. The result of years of obsessively making yogurt results in a love for every drop of whey that she passes onto home cooks in these recipes. Embrace whey’s bright tang in a summer gazpacho or a pitcher of pineapple margaritas. Enjoy the crispy edges it lends to creamy pancakes.

Enlivened by hand-drawn illustrations and dreamy photographs, Yogurt & Whey is a beautiful homage to Iranian yogurt traditions—past, present, and future.