“please sir, may i have some more” – oliver twist

i like to eat. more specifically i love to eat. eating is one of those fundamentally glorious objectives our supreme creator has given humanity. and we get to do it three times a day, every day. the best part is with the diversity in the indo-subcontinent, we get to eat foods that no other culture on the planet could even dream about. forget bobby flay and gordon ramsay, they ain’t got nothing on chef zakir.

pakistani food in it’s various forms is an art, almost. there’s different ways of cooking each dish. even a simplistic breakfast can overturn into a lavish feast of paya, nihari, lassan anda, goat cheese spreads, maal-poora’s,  malai and some halwa puri and channa. the advantage we have is that the diversity in the history of our cultures is so rich, we have inherited all of the diaspora of food and are now getting to enjoy it. feel like food from lucknow, or delhi, or hyderabad or peshawar, it’s all available within a fifteen minute drive usually.

historically the reason for our foods being so diverse are generally geographic. with such a vast climate across the sub-continent, preparation of foods have different requirements. for example, the further south you get, karachi, delhi etc., the spicier foods get because spices were used as a preservative to prevent spoilage in warmer climates. the further north and west you get, you have a drier, cooler climate with a hotter sun and you have drier palates and ease of cooking things like sajji’s and other such delicacies which are generally a bit blander with more garnishings.

come today, ask a karachiite where the best bbq in town is. any of the kids in clifton and defence will scream out bbq tonight without giving a second thought.  too bad they will never experience going to bundoo khan’s and sharing a meal with stray cats. too bad they will never get to go to al-hamra’s. too bad they will never go to billy’s. too bad they will never go to meerath. too bad they will never go to usmania. too bad they will never go to noorani kebab house. too bad they will never go to kaybee’s. it’s just too bad. all these locations are institutions now. there are hundreds more out there.

but anyway since we’re talking about bbq food, i just remembered a fundamental difference between karachiite’s eating bbq and everyone else eating bbq food (lahori’s to be specific because they like to think they’re everyone else). take something as simple as a kebab or a chicken tikka. ask a karachiite how he’ll eat it, and 99 times out of 100 he’ll ask for a paratha. ask a lahori how he’ll eat it, and 100 times out of 100, he’ll ask for a naan. i don’t get it. why do lahori’s deprive themselves of the fine delicacy that is a paratha. (another thing i don’t get, what’s up with not eating kebab roll’s? why is it such an alien concept?)

since i’m rambling incoherently now without any sort of structure to this post, might as well add, no one family or person makes a dish the same. something like haleem for example can be made out of daal for one family, only meat for another, only gayhoon for another and a mixture of all of the above for another.

one thing is for sure, pakistani food is diverse and as exotic as it gets. don’t take it for granted. just the fact that we have some of the best forms of bread in the world makes for  good conversation with your gora buddies. nothing like eating an ultay tavay ki roti or a makai ki roti or a sheermaal or a taaftaan or a patra of karak roti or some wonderful meetha bun from the local bakery. by the way, the kids who’ve never gone out to buy bread in their life aside from dawn bread from agha’s really need to step in and browse the selection at their local bakery. ask your dad/driver where it is.