No meal after 10 pm: Kashmiri wedding chefs have had enough of late-night feasts

For years, late-night wedding feasts have been a subject of public criticism in Kashmir, with guests and hosts routinely complaining about dinners being served well past midnight. Yet, the practice has continued unabated.

Now, in an unusual intervention, the Wazas — traditional chefs responsible for cooking and serving the elaborate multi-course meal — have decided that they have had enough, warning that they will not serve dinner or lunch after a stipulated time.

The decision to fix a time for serving the wedding feast was taken during a meeting of the chefs held in Srinagar on Tuesday. Narrating their experiences, the chefs said that some wedding feasts were being served as late as close to the break of dawn.

“We have decided that the wedding feast should be over by 10 (in the night),” Ghulam Nabi Baba, President of the Kashmir Waza (Chefs) Association, told The Indian Express. “It is better for everyone: For the hosts, for the guests, and, of course, for us as well.”

Wazwan — the traditional multi-course non-vegetarian meal — is an integral part of Kashmir’s elaborate marriage celebrations. Traditionally a seven-course meal, it can comprise as many as 15 dishes. The main dishes include Rista (minced meat balls cooked in spicy curry), Tabakhmaaz (lamb ribs slowly fried on low heat), Roganjosh (Mutton cooked in spicy curry), Kebab, and Goshtaba (minced meat balls cooked in curd).

While guests from the bride’s side are served Wazwan during the day, at lunch, the baraatis (guests accompanying the groom) are traditionally treated to dinner.

At the peak of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, both sides were served during the day. As violence dipped in the Valley, the practice of hosting late-night dinners for the guests accompanying the groom gradually returned.

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Though the wedding invitation cards generally specify lunch around 2 pm, it is often served around 4 pm to men and 6-7 pm to the women. The reception for the groom usually goes well past midnight.

The chefs have now set the timings for both lunch and dinner and warned that if they are not abided by, the feast will not be served. “We want that lunch should be, at max, served at 2pm to men and at 3 pm to women,” Baba said. “Similarly, the reception of the groom should be completed by 10 pm,” he said.

Baba says the chefs are determined to strictly enforce the decision.

“We are preparing an agreement. We will seek a written undertaking from the hosts that the feast would be served by 10 pm,” he said. “If the guests arrive late, we will leave without serving them and the responsibility would lie with the hosts.”

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Baba said the timing restrictions would not be limited to wedding feasts but would also apply to engagement and other marriage-related functions.