Kashmiri Cuisine, Wazwan, a little History and Kashmiri Recipes

Waz means cook or to cook, and wan means shop. So translated, wazwan means cooking shop. It probably refers to the chef setting up shop (or a temporary restaurant, so to speak) for over 24 hours, while catering to the occasion. Suffice it to say, the actual wazwan, whether it only has 12 courses, or 24, or the Royal 36, is a magnificent, opulent feast, a ceremony that has many parts to it.

However, in 2017, the Kashmiri government passed a law to cut down on the food wastage that is common in large wazwans. Since 2017, only 7 meat dishes and 7 vegetarian dishes are allowed at any celebration.

During a wazwan, you’ll find the guests seated on the flour, with condiments like chutney and yoghurt laid out for groups of 4. The food was served in courses on a large thali or trami (for the Muslim wazwan) that were filled with rice and 4 different dishes. These are large trays.

However, before the food arrived, someone will go around to all the diners with a jug and basin called tash-t-nari. This was to allow everyone to wash his or her hands before eating, because the food was eaten with one’s right hand. 

This particular ritual, the hand washing, the food coming out in trays and the sitting on the floor, is something that I remember very well from my childhood. So perhaps a practice found in a few cultures, not just Kashmiri.

The Kashmiri Wazwan came about as a means of not wasting any part of an animal. So dishes were created to use the various parts, for example, the tail was used for aab gosh and even the organs had their place, like methi maz, which originally would have been made with mainly the intestines!

I’ve been told by a couple of people that the Kashmiri Pandits’ version of Wazwan is called Saal. However, most people I’ve spoken to, Kashmiri and otherwise, are not familiar with this term. And I haven’t been able to find anything online about this either. So if any of you reading this can clarify this either way, I would appreciate it.