“Tarrof” plays a big role in Iranian culture and not many outsiders are familar with this habbit. The best way to describe the meaning of Tarrof is to not accept if something is offered to you for the first or second time and keep refusing in polite manner and at the end agree to it (this is not the case always). For example, last year when I went to Iran, we went to my aunt’s house for dinner and I wasn’t really hungry and when the dinner was served I helped myself to small portion of food which my family thought I was tarrofing and was shy to eat more and when I explained the reason they still would not accept and wanted to serve more food for me. I really think tarrof is keeping people from being direct towards each other. I know this is part of our culture but using it in excess has brought so much frustration and sometimes tarrofing with each other can be genuine which is not too bad. I know young generation are being rebelling against taroff kardan and want to have more direct approach.

Merci

Aila