US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka got a taste of Hyderabad hospitality during the dinner at Falaknuma Palace. The next day she was taken around Golconda Fort before she flew back to her country. “Tour of Golkonda Fort with members of the US delegation prior to departing Hyderabad. The perfect end to a remarkable visit. #GES2017", tweeted the advisor to President of the US.
But Ivanka only got a partial taste of fabled Hyderabadi hospitality. No, Hyderabad was not always about biryani or patthar ka gosht or qubani ka meetha . Nor was it the vegetarian haleem or dahi ke keban or subz gulzar biryani that was dished out for Ivanka and others. Traditional Hyderabadi cuisine had class written all over it. This is a menu from 1906 and lists the items served for the Prince of Wales (who later became the Emperor George V). It had glace aux mangoes that sounds so much cooler than Tamarind sorbet which was on the menu for Ivanka.
The royalty and nobility in Hyderabad led multiple lives. The cultured elite were home both here as well as abroad. They were comfortable sitting for a chowki dinner which required the folded feet to be tucked under a large short table with all the Hyderabadi goodies like gud ki biryani (bone marrow and not jaggery) or chigar ka gosht or melt in the mouth shikhampur in the middle of the dastarkhan . They were equally comfortable on the great tables like the one at 101 Falaknuma Palace sipping sherbets, cutting through roast saddle of venison with knife and fork or daintily savouring strawberry ice with strawberries in syrup to round up a hearty meal.
While the chowki dinner had its own rules and etiquettes, the dinner on the big table meant absolute planning and sticking to protocol. For the 1906 dinner at Chowmahalla Palace, the central table had the Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan with the Prince of Wales to his right and the Princess of Wales to the left. Facing the Nizam on the other side of the table was Maharaja Kishen Pershad. Everything was in order.
As can be guessed, setting up a table and the dinner for this occasion required an army of liveried cooks and servers who were conversant with protocol and knew the difference between blanching and chaunk .
According to old time Hyderabadis, there were different kitchens, cooking vessels and crockery. This please-all arrangement began once British officials started having a say in who called the shots in the kingdom. Noblemen who were conversant with British etiquette, food habits and English language got a leg up.
This struggle for supremacy and courtly intrigue began with the success of Salar Jung I who had the backing of the Britich Resident against Rashiduddin Khan Vicar-ul-Umra who was more at home with Mughal manners and etiquette. Realising his weakness, Rashiduddin Khan set about rectifying it. He hired a few Goan cooks and European governesses so that his children were not let down.
This transformed the functioning of noble families as Hyderabad became a happy hunting ground for cooks who could dish out bland continental cuisine, European governesses and English tutors. The apogee of this European embrace can be seen in Falaknuma Palace built by Vicar-ul-Umra and Erramanzil built by Fakhr-ul-Mulk. The children of course became completely Europeanised. The situation reached a stage where one Nobleman’s son who grew up mostly in England and studied in a grammar school shook hands with his father on return and greeted him most politely. A clear break from the Mughal era family manners that had dominated the Nizam’s court.
Now, the wheel has come full circle with a majority of diners sitting on the big table at Falaknuma Palace wearing traditional Indian dress tucking into Indian food items inspired by Central Asian cooking techniques.
