Translations:Kashmiri cuisine/175/en

Giant dastarkhaans (white sheets) are spread on the floor on which the meal is served. However humble or lofty the fare on it, the dastarkhaan has always been the center of warm hospitality and conviviality. In big Kashmiri dinners, a hundred to five hundred people are usually invited. Since insurgency and the resultant violence and bloodshed, food has come to hold even greater meaning as each meal signifies a celebration of life itself. It is worth mentioning that wazas (the descendants of Samarkandi cooks), whose shops are located in particular areas of the city of Srinagar, form a significant political group in Kashmir.