‘Zaiqay Frontier Ke’ arrives in Bhutan

Cookbook demonstrates spirit of food for peace and preservation of culture

KARACHI: The 2015 Gourmand Award winning Cookbook for Peace – India-Pakistan, Zaiqay Frontier Ke — Dera Ismail Khan Kay Bhulay Bisray Pakwan, recently made it to the sixth Mountain Echoes Literary Festival in Bhutan, stated a press release.

Written by an Indian author, Dipa Bagai, and published by Pakistan’s independent publisher, Markings, the book was the topic of a panel discussion where the talking point was the book’s cross-border and cross-cultural demonstration of food for peace and preservation of culture.

In a private ceremony the book was presented to the Queen of Bhutan, Jetsun Pema and other members of the royal family by Atul Bagai, son of the author.

Read: Zaiqay Frontier Kay: Cookbook in Urdu and Hindi attempts to bring Pakistan and India closer

Zaiqay Frontier Ke was also presented at the Jaipur literary Festival, to which Atul says he feels himself and Markings are “fortunate to represent their respective countries with this book.”

Attendees such as Dasha Benjy, Advisor Environment to the Royal Government of Bhutan, Atul Bagai, Vinod Dua, a leading Indian media personality and Kiran Aman, the CEO of Markings, were also present at the festival.

“We believe this to be much more than just a cookbook and were honoured when the Gourmand Award committee recognised and honoured it as a symbol of peace and as a step towards the recognition and restoration of shared history and culture that had been divided by borders,” Aman said in a press statement.

This book is the first Urdu-Hindi, Pakistan-India mixed venture which includes some of the most famous recipes of the curator of the vegetarian cuisine of the Hindu Pathans of Dera Ismail Khan, the late Pushpa Kumari Bagai.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th,  2015.

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