Watch Rostam Cook With His Mother Najmieh Batmanglij in Vevo’s Delightful New Video

Rostam Batmanglij is perhaps best known for his music—whether it be with Vampire Weekend, Hamilton Leithauser or as a solo artist— and as a producer who’s worked with HAIM, Solange and Frank Ocean, but when you peel back the layers of his professional work, you’ll find a son of Iranian immigrants, who grew up in Washington, D.C.

In a new video, Vevo’s Kim Taylor Bennett taps into the side of Rostam that fans of his music aren’t so familiar with, joining him and his mother, chef and cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij, in her home to cook a Persian meal. Throughout, Rostam and his mother share stories of his childhood, reminiscing on his upbringing in a creative atmosphere and his interest in music when he was a young child, and he also talks about his debut solo album Half-Light. Along the way, Najmieh guides Rostam and Bennett on how to make a few dishes and explains the importance of food in Persian culture.

“Music was a big part of the kitchen, and we were always listening to music,” Rostam explains in the video. They revealed that they would listen to Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, which is probably what spurred Rostam to cover “Like a Rolling Stone” on SiriusXMU recently.

Watch the delightful video below, and read our review of Half-Light here.