The evolving nature of culture

As we offered these things at Kutchi Deli Parwana, we did so in recognition that they were significant because of the setting in which our life story had unfolded. Living in Australia, the idea of offering something quickly in line with the pace of contemporary life, but still deeply connected to old ways of cooking, in a setting that placed an emphasis on the arts in a way revered in ancient and contemporary Afghanistan, resonated as a way to further bridge between our worlds. Importantly, we had also recognised that we were part of a reality in which social norms were increasingly being defined by the perception of an irreconcilability of East and West, and this perception was having devastating real-world outcomes. Kutchi Deli Parwana was not necessarily a way of rebutting the invalidity of this fiction, but of bypassing it, and offering something of ourselves instead. We ourselves were testament to the historic amalgamation of ways that infused civilisation – a narrative that had long been silenced – and, in honouring this, we were driven to create in ways unbound by the deceit of disconnection so many norms in our world were increasingly coming to reflect.