साहित्य आजतक के मंच पर हुई लखनऊ के ‘गैर-नवाबी’ इतिहास की चर्चा – sahitya aajtak 2026 gair nawabi vegetarian naval kant sinha arshana azmat amlbs
The guests who came to the Non-Nawabi Vegetarian session on the stage of Sahitya Aaj Tak on Sunday had a special discussion on the food of Lucknow. Navalkant Sinha, Arshana Ajmat and Hemendra Dhar told many interesting things. At the beginning of the program, Navalkant Sinha said important things about the history of Lucknow.
Navalkant told that its power is hidden in the name of Lucknow itself, it was ‘Awadh’, which means ‘which cannot be killed’. The history of Lucknow’s glory is very ancient and diverse. Here after the glory of Suryavanshi kings came the era of Chandravanshi rulers.
If we turn the pages of history, in the period from 1000 to 1030, Lakhan Pasi emerged as a mighty ruler, on whose name the identity of this city was associated. After him, around 1190, Bijli Pasi took over the power here. The time cycle changed and the Sheikhzads arrived here.
Seasonal vegetables are also famous in Lucknow
Hemendra Dhar said that people often used to say “You are from Lucknow, kebabs must be available there.” Earlier, there used to be a lot of emphasis on seasonal vegetables in Lucknow. Like Nimona is a dish which is eaten in winter. After this, Arabic food was also available here.
Apart from this, Tehri feast was also held here. In this, vegetables were roasted with spices and cooked with rice. The Nawabs have also contributed a lot to the food of Lucknow. He was very fond of food.
When food was cooked in Brahmin families, things like jackfruit biryani were available. Whereas Kayasthas had the most variety in their food, because they ate both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
Arshana Ajmat says that there was no specific documentation of vegetarian dishes, hence not much was recorded about them. He said that Nawab was also a vegetarian. Naval says that mostly men used to cook food in the houses of Nawabs, whereas in normal families women used to cook food.
Earlier, cooking was not considered a burden, rather it was considered an art. Kheer is a very old dish of ours, three different versions of which developed in Lucknow. The Nawabs here were not warriors, they did not fight with the British. He was not particularly concerned with diplomacy either. Their work was dancing, singing, cooking etc.
Lucknow’s paan is special
Naval says that serving food was also an art in Lucknow. There were ways of giving even paan. Even there used to be a special way of keeping utensils. Paan was also made by cutting it into four parts. Arshana says that paan reflects our etiquettes. Once upon a time, when marriages were held here, it was seen how big the pandan was. The pocket money the bride received from pandan was also considered important.
Hemendra Dhar says that paan is eaten all over India, but the paan of Lucknow is special. Biryani is also a distinct identity of Lucknow. We were the ones who gave biryani to Kolkata.
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