The valley of Kashmir has not been attracting people from different corners of the world only for its charm, beauty and tranquillity but also for its mouth-watering, delicious and spicy dishes and cuisines. Kashmiri dishes and cuisines are rich in taste and flavour due to the variety of hot spices like cardamom, ginger, fennel seeds, cinnamon, black cumin and so on.
The tempting smell of wazwan, usually, prepared during weddings and certain special occasions and ceremonies in Kashmir, leaves a person mouth-watered even sniffed from a distance.
The word wazwan is derived from two words, ‘Waze’ means a Cook and ‘Wan’ means a place where the cook cooks various, the number could go as high as 36 dishes, dishes, cuisines -mostly meat based. Other Cooks assist the head Waza (Waste) during this process.
Wazwan is an art and is learnt through heredity only. It is rarely passed on to other persons outside the clan. It is not just a feast, but an integral part of the Kashmiri culture and heritage.
A week or two before the function or ceremony chief cook is hired to discuss the quantity and quality of rice, meat, spices, chicken, vegetables and other items of cookery. The whole wazwan is cooked on wuri, firewood stove-train, in large and small copper cauldrons, locally called Daeg and Degchi.
The process of serving begins with washing hands of guests as water is provided to them by a copper jug and a basin, called Tash Naer. After that, Dastarkhan, Table Cloth which is spread on the floor and is used as a sanitary surface for food, is spread, and groups of four people are made around it.
Then a sizeable circular dish, traem, with a mound of rice with different varieties of wazwan on it is served to each group.
Then, waze takes rounds with copper cauldrons and a ladle to serve the additional dishes one by one. Meanwhile, salad, curd, water and soft drinks, and pulaw are served alongside the waze.
All photos are taken by Muneeb-Ul-Islam
