Iranian Gravy Volcano

Tonekabon is a city in Iran, on the southern shore of the Caspian sea. Like many cities in that part of the world it has seen its share of history as armies and empires ebb and flow. It's about to become world famous for a very peculiar reason.

The Caspian sea is bordered by some globally significant geology. Into the sea debauch several major Asian rivers which have built up layers of mud and organic debris and created plentiful deposits of oil and natural gas. The underlying plate tectonics generate geothermal hot spots which give rise to geysers and mud volcanoes. When a crack in the ground appeared in Tonekabon appeared and vented steam no-one was particularly surprised and the only people who were much concerned were those whose property was directly threatened by the fumes.

However, the mystery deepened when it was noted that the liquid which bubbled to the surface did not smell of oil or mud... but of gravy.

Geologists were called to investigate. Some local chefs and restaurant owners also arrived to investigate. Sure enough, the substance which arrived boiling hot from this geologic anomaly was a rich beefy stock and proved to be edible, nourishing and rather tasty. The theorists have concluded that at some time in the last hundred thousand years or so a number of giant mammals, possibly mammoths, met their end nearby and their carcasses became quickly entombed in the layers of ice which once covered the region. Their remains might have remained, undisturbed and unnoticed until the end of time except for some recent geological disturbance which created cracks and fissures through their mesolithic boneyard permitting steam and hot water to percolate through the deposit and distilled a tasty stock from the bones and tissues of these long-dead beasts.

Several restaurants and bistros in Tonekabon have sprung up around the natural soup geyser to market the output as a guaranteed natural and additive free. The basic beefy broth flavour carries an earthy note which, while novel, is not unattractive.