A dastarkhān (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: دسترخوان, , , , , , , , ) or dastarkhwān is the name used across

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

to refer to the traditional dining space where food is eaten.Ken Albala
''Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia: Four Volumes''
ABC-CLIO, 25 mei 2011 p 49Suad Joseph, Afsāna Naǧmābādī
''Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, Body, Sexuality And Health, Volume 3''
BRILL, 2003 p 285Glenn Randall Mack, Asele Surina
''Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia''
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1 jan. 2005 p 39 The term is a word of

origin meaning the

tablecloth A tablecloth is a cloth used to cover a table. Some are mainly ornamental coverings, which may also help protect the table from scratches and stains. Other tablecloths are designed to be spread on a dining table before laying out tableware and ...

which is spread on the ground, floor, or table as a sanitary surface for food. The

Mughal India The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

n cookbook ''Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh'', which details the

Awadhi cuisine Awadhi cuisine (, ) is a cuisine native to the Awadh region in Northern India and Southern Nepal. Awadhi cuisine can be divided in two parts; Traditional Awadhi cuisines and Nawabi cuisines. Cooking patterns of Lucknow are similar to those of C ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, emphasized the importance of the dastarkhwan.

References

Indian cuisine Pakistani cuisine Bangladeshi cuisine Nepalese cuisine Tajik cuisine Afghan cuisine Kazakh cuisine Kyrgyz cuisine Turkmen cuisine Uzbekistani cuisine Serving and dining {{Afghanistan-cuisine-stub

See also

References