Culinary Tales From Balochistan

This is a collection of thirteen stories with recipes representing Balochistan’s vast palate documented for the first time.

Many of these recipes are obscure for Pakistanis and are absent from the imagination of what is considered Pakistani food, expanding our understanding of what constitutes the cuisine of the country.

We enjoy and learn about unusual ingredients, invisible dishes, food for thought and nostalgic comfort food along the way, honouring culinary icons. More than the sum of these recipes and food stories, this cookbook opens up windows into this remote part of Pakistan. The reader is invited to feast, feel, taste and enjoy Balochistan’s cuisine and more.

Nilofer Afridi Qazi is a public policy specialist with a background in film making. Born in Quetta, Balochistan, she has lived in over a dozen countries as a diplomat’s daughter. The 2005 earthquake in Pakistan brought her back home. In 2012 she began her food mapping adventures across Pakistan’s undocumented culinary landscape. Travelling across Pakistan’s remote corners she spent time with many invisible chefs, unaware of their incredible food as heritage treasures, worthy of acknowledgement and above all celebration. Her work resulted in a documentary series called Pakistan on a Plate. All 53 episodes feature on her YouTube channel, niloferscorner. Culinary Tales from Balochistan is her first book. She currently lives in Islamabad.