Pakistan

When people think of Pakistan, they probably picture a simple land plagued by troubles. But having grown up in Karachi, to me Pakistan means a peaceful, happy childhood filled with exciting scents, sounds and, most importantly, flavours. Food is the spirit of Pakistani people and it’s something that has been many thousands of years in the making.

To understand the food of Pakistan you need to visualise a country of diverse land, climate and people. You need only look to its borders to understand the varied influences the country is blessed with. In the north, there’s China, Tibet, the rugged Hindu Kush mountains and the foothills of the Himalayas (from which the fertile River Indus flows like an artery through Punjab and down to the Arabian Sea). And Pakistan is flanked by Afghanistan and Iran on the west, and India on the east. In the south, the country meets the arid dry deserts of Tharparkar and the silver sandy beaches of the Arabian Sea, which gently kisses my home city of Karachi.