Food mapping and telling the untold story of Balochistan cuisines

Islamabad: Pakistan’s largest yet least populated province of Balochistan is known for its natural diversity, its rocky mountains and sandy deserts, agricultural lands, delicious fruits and gorgeous coastline.

But there is also a whole world of ethnic diversity, cultures and most importantly the culinary tradition that largely remained overlooked in the mainstream discourse. But now a Balochistan native is on a mission to explore the food and culture of her land and to share the untold story of the cuisines of Balochistan.

Nilofer Afridi Qazi travelled extensively throughout Balochistan to explore and document the food and its connection with the culture, people and landscape of the region in her book ‘Culinary Tales From Balochistan’ published this year.

Born in Quetta, Balochistan, she has lived in over a dozen countries as a diplomat’s daughter. The 2005 earthquake in Pakistan brought her back home when she was working with UN-Habitat and that was essentially the beginning of her journey to explore the culture closely.

She also worked as a public policy and development specialist as well as in the fields of disaster management and cultural preservation which encouraged her to travel and explore Pakistan’s undocumented culinary landscape traveling across 100 of the nearly 154 districts of Pakistan.

During her travels and eating food at dhaabas (roadside restaurants) and hotels, she would always wonder: “Where is our invisible culinary culture?” When she realised “There is a huge body of food and culinary culture which is unpublished, undocumented, unacknowledged and uncared for,” she decided there and then to take on the responsibility to document this invisible food culture, Qazi told Gulf News.

Qazi said she had always had an “interest in food mapping” and the stories behind the most cherished foods of her home province but it was in 2012 that she actually began food mapping adventures across Pakistan. Her book is considered the first contribution toward food-mapping Pakistan.

Amalgamation of many cultures and ethnic groups

But why begin from Balochistan? “I was born in Quetta and because it is my paternal province and also the largest yet most invisible province.” However, she said ‘Culinary Tales From Balochistan’ is the first of the four books and the next book will be about the food of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - her maternal home province.

“Balochistan is an amalgamation of many cultures and ethnic groups and the food of Balochistan is a snapshot of ancient Central Asian,” she said. The culinary tradition of Balochistan is based on three fundamental elements: Kruth, Landhi (meat) and Dodai (bread). And “The variety and taste of bread in Balochistan is just incredible.”

Traditional flatbread

Kruth is dried fermented milk dehydrated and rehydrated and used as an ingredient in many recipes. Landhi is salt rubbed lamb, dried out in the summer months for use in the winter. Landhi is called Tabahiq in coastal regions of Balochistan.

The culturally rich and diverse province is also known as the fruit basket of Pakistan producing grapes, cherry, almonds, peach, pomegranate, apricot, apples and dates.

Balochistan is home to one of the world’s oldest Mehrgarh civilisation with early evidence of farming and bread making. “That ancient recipe and method of making bread without any utensil are still in practice” Nilofer shared. Kaak is a traditional flatbread prepared by wrapping the dough around a rock and then cooking around a bonfire. “Kaak is the most ancient form of bread making and staple” in Balochistan.

Nilofer has beautifully blended food recipes, travel wiring and culture mapping in her book, which contains at least 36 original recipes of food from Balochistan, expanding the culinary tradition of Pakistan. “Each recipe tells you about local environment, history, tradition, and agricultural pattern of the region.”

She has also produced several videos documenting her food trips throughout the region on her YouTube channel. The web series titled ‘Pakistan on a Plate’ includes more than 50 episodes that explore the diverse landscape, vibrant cultural, and delicious food experiences throughout Pakistan.

The journey began from her hometown Pishin in Balochistan after which she detailed the food traditions in Quetta, Killa Saifullah, Kalat, Gwadar, Lasbela and Ziarat. The latest episodes also documented the food culture in other regions of Pakistan: Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.