In Awadh, the nawabs developed an elaborate code of dining etiquette. This was referred to as dastarkhwan, a ceremonially laid-out dining spread. “Such was the value of the piece of cloth used for the food spread that one was forbidden from stepping on it,” notes Prof. Nina Sabnani in Dastarkhwan: Stories of the Awadhi Nawabs & their love for food & culture (2015).“The dastarkhwan had at least 12 dishes or more and the tehzeeb [courtesy & respect] flowed into the manner of eating,” she writes. The meal began with guests washing their hands in a chilamchi (a pot for hand washing). A seasonal sharbat (juice) was then offered, followed by shorba (soup). The main course typically comprised galawati or kakori kebabs, a salan or korma, accompanied by a spread of breads and rice.Today, a walk through the city’s oldest neighbourhoods reveals numerous signboards using the word Dastarkhwan — some belonging to time-honoured establishments with multiple outlets, others to newer eateries. “You see, it’s not just about the food, but the art of dastarkhwan, the very act of sitting around it, and the tradition it upholds. There are many elements that make Lucknow a gastronomic experience, which is why it rightfully earned the UNESCO City of Gastronomy tag,” historian Rana Safvi tells indianexpress.com.Story continues below this adWith the honour announced last week, Lucknow now joins a global network of around 55 cities, including its co-Nawabi counterpart, Hyderabad. Here’s a look at Lucknow’s food culture, the confluence of influences that shaped it, and the perennial question: where does biryani truly reign supreme — Lucknow or Hyderabad?Early history of AwadhAwadh is a region in present-day Uttar Pradesh, known as the United Provinces before independence. Since 1350 AD, different parts of the Awadh region have been ruled by the Delhi Sultanate (Turkish influence), the Mughal Empire (Persian influence), the Nawabs of Awadh (Indo-Islamic influence), the East India Company, and the British Raj. “Resultantly,” notes Sabnani, “over the years, the Awadh region has had multiple cultural influences that yielded under the reigning political power contemporary with the era.”Among the first was Persian adventurer Saadat Ali Khan, appointed the first Nawab of Awadh in 1722. He established his court in Faizabad, near Lucknow. “The first Nawab was of Persian origin and this left its mark on the Nawabs’ courtly culture and cuisine,” note scholars Colleen Taylor Sen, Sourish Bhattacharyya, and Helen Saberi in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Cuisine (2023).Also read | Awadhi: A language from the Oudh struggling to retain its rootsStory continues below this adThe history of Lucknow’s classical cuisine, also known as Awadhi cuisine, can be traced to the years of Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula’s reign in the eighteenth century (1754-75). He appointed Mirza Hasnu, a culinary expert, as head of the royal kitchen. “Navab Shuja ud Daula had his meals inside the palace with his wife Bahu Begam. The maidservants brought the trays to the Begam, uncovered them in her presence and placed the food on the dastar khwan,” writes author Abdul Halim Sharar in Lucknow: The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture (1989). A sum of two thousand rupees was spent daily on food alone, excluding the wages of cooks and other staff.The royal kitchens also had a well-defined hierarchy. At the bottom were the scullions, who cleaned the enormous pots and dishes and worked under the supervision of the cooks. Next came the bavarchi, the main cook, who prepared meals in large quantities. Above him was the rakabdar, the head chef, the most skilled of all, who cooked in small pots for select individuals. According to Sharar, the head chef would adorn the dishes with dried fruits cut into the shape of flowers, edible silver foil, and other embellishments. They would also prepare conserves and pickles, showcasing their skill in the art of gastronomy in subtle ways. Asaf-ud-Daula (Wikipedia)When the Nawab’s son, Asaf-ud-Daula (r. 1775-97), moved the capital of Awadh from Faizabad to Lucknow in 1775, the city became a flourishing cultural centre. He elevated the preparation and encouraged hospitality and communal dining. Large deghs (cauldrons) made of copper were used to simmer rice in clarified butter and spices. Dishes like korma and salan were slowly cooked and left in round pots of iron and copper.Sabdani writes that the cooks in the bawarchikhanas (royal kitchens) worked under a single guiding principle: the food must appeal to all the senses, it had to look beautiful to the eye, emit a pleasing aroma (for the nose), and taste exquisite (for the palate). “Hence, the famous Bawarchikhanas of the Nawabs were the birthplace of many exquisite food varieties, cooking styles, designation in the culinary world, and of course the Awadhi cuisine that Lucknow is known for today.”Story continues below this ad“The nanbais, or bazaar cooks, who operated cookshops in Lucknow’s marketplaces, were renowned for their excellent kebabs. The nanbais were also available for hire to work in private homes,” notes culinary educator Charmaine O’Brien in The Penguin Food Guide to India (2013). Even today, people visit Bawarchi Tola, a street in the old city, to engage traditional cooks for preparing authentic Awadhi cuisine.The many specialities of the regionAuthor Ira Mukhoty explains in an interview with indianexpress.com, “When Mughal Delhi no longer had the wealth to support its many poets, artists, and chefs, around this time, they began moving to other emerging centres of power — Hyderabad, Mysore, Awadh, etc. What is particularly interesting is that some of these Mughal chefs settled in places like Faizabad and Lucknow, bringing rich Mughal culinary traditions.” However, she notes that this created a unique amalgamation to suit the local palate.While the Mughal cuisine was rich in spices and infused with cream and milk, the Awadhi cuisine had subtle flavours. According to O’Brien, “The nawabs preferred cream to curd…lamb (softer meat) instead of mutton; and a subtler use of spices than that favoured by the Mughals. They particularly did not like spices to overpower the fragrance of the local rice they used to make pulao, a dish they preferred over the biryani so beloved of the Mughals”. In fact, biryani was not served at royal Awadhi feasts, as the nawabs considered it barbaric in style and lacking refinement. Nawabi culture, a representation (Wikipedia)“The pulao of the Awadh nawabs was created by partially cooking rice in a stock called yakhni — variously described as being made from thirty or so kilograms of meat or from chickens fed on musk and saffron — then layering the rice in a pot with cooked meat and saffron-infused milk sprinkled over the top, then sealing the pot with dough and leaving it to cook slowly over hot coals,” details O’Brien. Safvi adds, “Lucknow has Yakhni Pulao, and making it is truly an art. Preparing a pulao is far more challenging than making biryani, because the latter uses so many spices that it’s hard to go wrong, while pulao relies on very few. In this case, the cooking technique is what truly matters.”Story continues below this ad Bara Imambara, Lucknow (Wikipedia)According to Sabnani, legend has it that in 1847, when a severe famine struck the region during the reign of Asaf-ud-Daula, he launched a ‘food-for-work programme,’ employing thousands in constructing the Bada Imambara. Large cauldrons were filled with rice, meat, vegetables, and spices, then sealed to make a one-pot meal available to workers day and night. One day, the Nawab happened to catch the aroma wafting from the royal kitchen as it served the dish. It was from here that the dum pukht style of cooking was adopted.The term dum means to “breathe in,” while pukht means “cook”. Dum pukht (Persian) thus refers to a technique in which meat and vegetables are cooked over a very low flame in sealed containers, allowing the dish to cook gently.Another variety of pulao described by Mukhoty was made with almonds. “Each grain of rice would sometimes be carved out of almonds, so you had little pieces of almond cut in such fashion that it resembled pulao. The person eating it would not realise until the first spoonful,” she exclaimed, adding, “This, for me, is something quintessentially Lucknowi — it keeps you guessing all the time”.Another celebrated dish is the kebab, spiced minced meat in various shapes and flavours, cooked over an open fire. Lucknow is especially famous for its galauti, kakori, boti, and seekh kebabs.Story continues below this adO’Brien also recounts a “final Awadhi culinary legend” — bread. Apparently, a certain nawab was in the habit of tossing pieces of stale bread to the poor as he passed through the city. One day, a cook collected some of these pieces, took them back to his kitchen, deep-fried them, dipped them in hot sugar syrup, and poured reduced milk over them to create a pudding called shahi tukda. ‘Shahi’ means royal and ‘tukra’ means piece”. Whether the dish was ever presented to the nawab, she says, remains unknown. However, it has since become an integral part of Awadhi cuisine.The aftermath of 1857The Nawabs’ reign continued to flourish in Lucknow until British rule intervened in 1856. That year, the East India Company took complete control of the city and the rest of Awadh, and later transferred it to the British Raj in 1857. The monarchy was abolished, and the last Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled by the British to Calcutta. Mukhoty says that when Wajid Ali Shah went to Calcutta, he took his cooks with him. “So you would have this literal reign of Lucknowy food infiltrating into Bengali food. Even today, you find certain elements like potatoes in the biryani, which comes from Lucknow.” Wajid Ali Shah (Wikipedia)“Lucknow lost its court, but the refined artistic culture it had spawned continued to be lived out, albeit in ways adjusted to the means of various levels of society. The much-touted courtly manners of the Lucknavis seem to have largely disappeared from public life, at least in my experience of the streets and eateries, but traditional Awadhi cuisine is still enjoyed in Lucknow,” notes O’Brien.Mukhoty adds, “After 1857, with the loss of patronage from the Nawab and his courtiers, the culinary extravaganza began to fade. What you are left with is an ossified tradition, no longer evolving, growing, or creating”.Story continues below this adMore from Express Research | We traced the last prince of AwadhYet, the city bounced back. An interesting argument is offered by cultural historian and culinary curator Pushpesh Pant. “We miss celebrating the pluralistic heritage of Lucknow while glorifying only one stream — that of Nawabs. Lucknow food is more than kebab, shabab, and sharab (alcohol). It is also the lassi, the paan, the bedmi poori, and the chaat,” he says.Pant draws attention to the communities that moved to Lucknow after 1947. After Independence, people came from West Punjab and brought with them the tandoor, butter chicken, and paneer. “On the streets of Lucknow are also the food of the Khatri, the Baniya, the Kayasth, and the Kashmiri Pandits, among others, who have stayed there for almost 100 years and more.”“Immigrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have introduced chokha bati to the street food sold here,” write Sen, Bhattacharyya, and Saberi. The city was also dotted with European-style bars, reminiscent of those in London and Paris.Story continues below this adFor Safvi, though, it is the presentation that stands out. “There’s a strong emphasis on plating in Lucknow; I’ve seen it throughout my growing years. It is said that in Lucknow, the eyes eat before the mouth.”Lucknow todayOld markets like Chowk, Ameenabaad, and Hazratganj house some of the city’s most famous restaurants — Raheem’s Kulcha Nahari, Idrees Biryani, and Tunday Kababi.Gourmetship has indeed been prized in the city not only by Nawabs and aristocrats but even by the middle class and common people. Thus, while the UNESCO tag honours the Nawabi culture, it also highlights the efforts of those who arrived in the city after 1857.What is understood is that Lucknow wakes up to the aroma of food rather than to alarms. And if you’re visiting, try the Yakhni pulao — not biryani.