How to Harness the Power of Yogurt for Every Meal of the Day

Food & Wine

One of my earliest memories involves my father coming home from the grocery store in our neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, with a pint of what he assumed was plain, full-fat yogurt for our family to enjoy alongside meat and vegetable stew. After opening the tub at the table, the three of us exchanged sideways glances: This doesn’t smell right. Once we determined that it wasn’t expired or damaged in some way, we quickly realized what had happened: My father, assuming that American grocery stores (like those in Turkey, where we’re from) carried unflavored yogurt in the large white tubs that filled the dairy aisle, had purchased vanilla yogurt. It quickly became a running joke in our family, asking one another if vanilla-flavored yogurt soup was on the menu.

My father’s simple error highlighted how different cuisines interact with this simple, foundational ingredient — one that Homa Dashtaki, founder of The White Moustache yogurt products and the author of Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life, calls “absolutely exquisite.” Like me, Dashtaki grew up enjoying yogurt in a savory capacity, as a sauce for vegetables, rice, and lentils. “What I think is so fascinating is that in its simplest, fullest form, yogurt is so full of possibility,” she says. “I douse all of my food in it. My plate is one-third rice, one-third whatever the stew is, and one-third yogurt.”

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