TEHRAN – A Canadian-born food and travel vlogger, who has visited several Iranian cities recently, believes that the whole anti-Iran propaganda is wrong.
“There is lots of negative advertising about Iran in the world, but tourists after traveling to the country realize that all of those are wrong,” ILNA quoted Trevor James, also known as “The Food Ranger” on YouTube, as saying on Wednesday.
“I am ready to show my passport with Iran’s seal to everyone and the media is dividing the people of the world,” James noted.
Speaking to the Iranian news agency, James, who recently visited Iran to produce films about Iranian food, tourism and culture, said, “I want to portray the culture of the Iranian people so that people [all] around the world [would] know how hospitable the Iranians are.”
“I would like to travel to Iran again, of course, this time with a different perspective.”
James, who traveled to the cities of Gorgan, Mashhad and Chabahar, continued that although my trip may only be for acquaintance with Iranian cuisine, it was also fascinating to see Iran’s cultural and religious attractions.
“The problem with street food in Iran is that they all have nothing to do with local and traditional dishes.”
The Food Ranger said “In some cases, the quality of food is poor. However, street food has a large capacity to attract tourists.”
Though there are many varied Iranian dishes but restaurants in which to try these food are very limited, he added.
He lamented that “a long and difficult visa process” was one of my concerns about traveling to Iran and this is a big question for all tourists that why this process is [so] “time-consuming”.
“The Iranian government must put a great deal of effort into facilitating and enhancing foreign tourist arrivals.”
At the end, the Food Ranger said “I am happy and now can recommend all my friends and followers to travel to Iran.”
James is famous for his street food tours on YouTube, which [averagely] have been viewed over 410 million times. He started filming his food and travel videos in March 2013 and his channel has since grown to have over 3.2 million subscribers.
Since then, he has filmed food and travel videos in Malaysia, India, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Mexico.
James is currently based in Chengdu, China, with his wife Ting. They’ve been traveling around the world and uploading weekly videos on YouTube since 2015.