'Food can improve strained ties between India and Pakistan'

Food is not just to satiate your palate, it can also play a part in improving strained ties between India and Pakistan, says Pakistani celebrity chef Mohammed Gyazzuddin.If used as a tool of soft diplomacy, food, specially the variety which is common to north India and Pakistan, can improve relation between the two countries, he said."The cuisine of north India and Pakistan are the same and the food habits in both the countries have a lot in common. So I feel that exchange of food festivals between the two countries can improve the tensed relation," he told PTI.Gyazzuddin, the chief chef of Mughal's Cuisine of Karachi, is presently in Kolkata with his entire team to take part in the 26th Industrial India Trade Fair. He has put up a stall of Pakistani cuisine.Gyazzuddin has been coming to India for the last few years to take part in fairs, especially Delhi, Amritsar and Chandigarh. This is his maiden visit to Kolkata. "The style of speech in Delhi and Karachi is the same.So are the food habits. Most of the people who are settled in Delhi or Karachi have crossed over from Pakistan or India during the partition. So whenever I come to India I don't see any difference," he said. Since the last three to four generations, 42-year-old Gyazzuddin has been in the profession of cooking."My roots are in India as my previous generations were residents of India, before partition," he said. The lavish spread in the Pakistani food stall ranged from mouth-watering Sindhi Dum Briyani, Afghani Mutton Karai, Chicken & Mutton Seekh Kabab to Chicken Nahari, Chicken.Gyazzuddin, the father of three children, would be buying gifts for his kids from Kolkata.
The owner of the stall, Saeed Iqbal, said if business in Kolkata went well, they would love to come back again in the winter when there are a series of fairs in the city."So far, the business has been good. But we hope that sales would pick up in the next few days. This is our first visit to Kolkata; so our main aim is to introduce ourselves to
the city," Iqbal said. "We are common people. We wish that peace prevailed between the two countries so that there are more such exchanges which would spread the message of love," Gyazzuddin said.He said that before leaving the city he would like to pick up recipes of some Bengali dishes.
The Pakistani cuisine, he felt, turned out to be a hit among the Bengalis as indicated by large queues before the stall.