Pakistani cuisine has Afghan-Turkic-Iranian roots, a legacy of Muslim rule in South Asia, which got 'Indianized' due to the greater usage of spices; this is specially true for Pakistani Punjabis, Sindhis and Muhajirs (also Muslims in India); whereas Pakistani Pashtuns and Baluchese have retained their cuisine similar to our western neighbors. So in a wider sense Pakistani cuisine is a blend of our western (Afghan-Iranian) and eastern (Indian) neighbors, depending on the region and people, of which many have evolved into their own unique distinct characteristics. Meat is a major part of Pakistani diet, whereas vegetables and beans are as important. Wheat is also the main staple of Pakistani diet, whereas rice is also popular. The content of spices can range from very spicy/hot to mild, although spicy/hot seems more popular. In recent times some of the Chinese and American cuisine have also been adopted by a few segments of Pakistani urbanites as well.

Chutney, Tandoori, Rice, Tea, Shakes, Smoothies, Lemonade.

Pepsi Ka Metha is a popular dessert

Pepsi 1 pint

- Caramel 1 packet

- Tea Biscuits 1 packet

- coffee 1 teaspoon

- Whipping cream 2 packet

- Pista 100gm

- kiri cheese 4 pieces

- nestle cream 2 tins

-make a syrup of coffee by adding water

-dip the biscuits in the syrup

-make two layers of biscuits in a dish

-cook the caramel in pepsi

-let the caramel cool for 15 minutes

-pour the caramel on the bisuits layers

-mix the nestle cream,whipping cream and

kirri and ground pistacho and whisk

thoroughly

-pour this mix on the set caramel

-served chilled.

Most people in the world today know what a curry is - or at least think they do. In Britain the term 'curry' has come to mean almost any Indian dish, whilst most people from the sub-continent would say it is not a word they use, but if they did it would mean a meat, vegetable or fish dish with spicy sauce and rice or bread.

The earliest known recipe for meat in spicy sauce with bread appeared on tablets found near Babylon in Mesopotamia, written in cuniform text as discovered by the Sumerians, and dated around 1700 B.C., probably as an offering to the god Marduk.

The origin of the word itself is the stuff of legends, but most pundits have settled on the origins being the Tamil word 'kari' meaning spiced sauce. In his excellent Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson quotes this as a fact and supports it with reference to the accounts from a Dutch traveller in 1598 referring to a dish called 'Carriel'. He also refers to a Portuguese cookery book from the seventeenth century called Atre do Cozinha, with chilli-based curry powder called 'caril'.

In her '50 Great Curries of India', Camellia Panjabi says the word today simply means 'gravy'. She also goes for the Tamil word 'kaari or kaaree' as the origin, but with some reservations, noting that in the north, where the English first landed in 1608 then 1612, a gravy dish is called 'khadi'.

Pat Chapman of Curry Club fame offers several possibilities:- 'karahi or karai(Hindi)' from the wok-shaped cooking dish, 'kari' from the Tamil or 'Turkuri' a seasonal sauce or stew.

The one thing all the experts seem to agree on is that the word originates from India and was adapted and adopted by the British Raj.

On closer inspection, however, there is just as much evidence to suggest the word was English all along.

In the time of Richard I there was a revolution in English cooking . In the better-off kitchens, cooks were regularly using ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, galingale, cubebs, coriander, cumin, cardamom and aniseed, resulting in highly spiced cooking very similar to India. They also had a 'powder fort', 'powder douce' and 'powder blanch'.

Then, in Richard II's reign (1377-1399) the first real English cookery book was written. Richard employed 200 cooks and they, plus others including philosophers, produced a work with 196 recipes in 1390 called 'The Forme of Cury'. 'Cury' was the Old English word for cooking derived from the French 'cuire' - to cook, boil, grill - hence cuisine.

In the preface it says this "forme of cury was compiled of the chef maistes cokes of kyng Richard the Secunde kyng of nglond aftir the conquest; the which was accounted the best and ryallest vyand of alle csten ynges: and it was compiled by assent and avysement of maisters and phisik and of philosophie that dwellid in his court. First it techith a man to make commune pottages and commune meetis for howshold, as they shold be made, craftly and holsomly, Aftirward it techith for to make curious potages and meetes and sotiltees for alle maner of states, bothe hye and lowe. And the techyng of the forme of making of potages and of meetes, bothe flesh and of fissh, buth y sette here by noumbre and by ordre".

In his book 'Manners and Meals in Olden Times' (1868) F.J.Furnell noted a passage from a fifteenth centurytreatise against nouvelle cuisine :

'Cooks with peire newe conceytes,

choppynge, stampynge and gryndynge

Many new curies alle day pey ar contryvynge

and fyndynge

pat provotethe pe peple to perelles of passage prouz peyne soore pyndynge

and prouz nice excesse of such receytes of pe life to make a endynge.'

So when the English merchants landed at Surat in 1608 and 1612, then Calcutta 1633, Madras 1640 and Bombay 1668, the word 'cury' had been part of the English language for well over two hundred years. In fact, it was noted that the meal from Emperor Jahangir's kitchens of dumpukht fowl stewed in butter with spices, almond and raisins served to those merchants in 1612, was very similar to a recipe for English Chicken Pie in a popular cookery book of the time, 'The English Hus-wife' by Gevase Markham. Indeed many spices had been in Europe for hundreds of years by then, after the conquests of the Romans in 40AD and the taking of Al Andulus by the Moors in 711 AD, bringing to Europe the culinary treasures of the spice routes.

Many supporters of the Tamil word kari as the basis for curry, use the definition from the excellent Hobson-JobsonAnglo English Dictionary, first published in 1886. The book quotes a passage from the Mahavanso (c A.D. 477) which says "he partook of rice dressed in butter with its full accompaniment of curries." The important thing, however, is the note that this is Turnour's translation of the originalPali which used the word "supa" not the word curry. Indeed Hobson -Jobson even accepts that there is a possibility that "the kind of curry used by Europeans and Mohommedans is not of purely Indian origin, but has come down from the spiced cookery of medieval Europe and Western Asia."

Whatever the truth, 'curry' was rapidly adopted in Britain. In 1747 Hannah Glasse produced the first known recipe for modern 'currey' inGlasse's Art of Cookeryand by 1773 at least one London Coffee House had curry on the menu. In 1791 Stephana Malcom, the grandaughter of the Laird of Craig included a curry recipe she called Chicken Topperfield plus Currypowder, Chutnies and Mulligatawny soup as recorded in 'In The Lairds Kitchen, Three Hundred Years of Food in Scotland'.

Around the same time the word "consumer" began to appear which, conversely, was not originally an English word as one might think, but derived from 'Khansaman', the title of the house steward - the chief table servant and purchaser as well as provider of all food in Anglo-Indian households.

In 1780 the first commercial curry powder appeared and in 1846 its fame was assured when William Makepeace Thackeray wrote a 'Poem to Curry' in his ' Kitchen Melodies'.

Life goes through many incarnations (up to 84 million) before becoming human. In other words, life takes the form of incarnation in plant form, then animal, and then human. The idea being that animal form spiritually is closer to man. Biologically this maybe true, however, spiritually within Sikhism, this could not be further from the truth.

On page 176 of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the following is written:

ga-orhee gu-aarayree mehlaa 5.

Gauree Gwaarayree, Fifth Mehl:

ka-ee janam bha-ay keet patangaa.

In so many incarnations, you were a worm and an insect;

ka-ee janam gaj meen kurangaa.

in so many incarnations, you were an elephant, a fish and a deer.

ka-ee janam pankhee sarap ho-i-o.

In so many incarnations, you were a bird and a snake.

ka-ee janam haivar barikh Jo-i-o. 1

In so many incarnations, you were yoked as an ox and a horse. 1

mil jagdees milan kee baree-AA.

Meet the Lord of the Universe - now is the time to meet Him.

chirankaal ih dayh sanjaree-AA. 1 rahaa-o.

After so very long, this human body was fashioned for you. 1Pause

ka-ee janam sail gir kari-AA.

In so many incarnations, you were rocks and mountains;

ka-ee janam garabh hir khari-AA.

in so many incarnations, you were aborted in the womb;

ka-ee janam saakh kar upaa-i-AA.

in so many incarnations, you developed branches and leaves;

lakh cha-oraaseeh Jon bharmaa-i-AA. 2

you wandered through 8.4 million incarnations. 2

saaDhsang bha-i-o janam paraapat.

Through the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, you obtained this human life.

kar sayvaa bhaj har har gurmat.

Do seva - selfless service; follow the Guru's Teachings, and vibrate the Lord's Name, Har, Har.

ti-aag maan jhooth abhimaan.

Abandon pride, falsehood and arrogance.

jeevat mareh dargeh parvaan. 3

Remain dead while yet alive, and you shall be welcomed in the Court of the Lord. 3

Jo kichh ho-AA so tujh tay hog.

Whatever has been, and whatever shall be, comes from You, Lord.

avar na doojaa karnai jog.

No one else can do anything at all.

taa milee-ai jaa laihi milaa-ay.

We are united with You, when You unite us with Yourself.

kaho naanak har har gun gaa-ay. 4372

Says Nanak, sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord, Har, Har. 4372

Reading this Ang one can clearly see that the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji does not attach any particular order to how life is incarnated. Infact it states:

ka-ee janam sail gir kari-AA.

In so many incarnations, you were rocks and mountains;

ka-ee janam garabh hir khari-AA.

in so many incarnations, you were aborted in the womb;

ka-ee janam saakh kar upaa-i-AA.

in so many incarnations, you developed branches and leaves;

If you were to apply the logic of those that claim spiritually animal life is closer to human, then according to this a rock then becomes an aborted human foetus, then becomes a plant! It is only after this one becomes human. Surely then a plant is a closer form of life to human?

The Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji only proclaims one life form as being so precious. On page 50 of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji it states:

sireeraag mehlaa 5 ghar 2.

Siree Raag, Fifth Mehl, Second House:

go-il AA-i-AA go-ilee ki-AA tis damf pasaar.

The herdsman comes to the pasture lands-what good are his ostentatious displays here?

muhlat punnee chalnaa tooN sampal ghar baar. 1

When your allotted time is up, you must go. Take care of your real hearth and home. 1

har gun gaa-o manaa satgur sayv pi-aar.

O mind, sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord, and serve the True Guru with love.

ki-AA thorh-rhee baat gumaan. 1 rahaa-o.

Why do you take pride in trivial matters? 1Pause

jaisay rain paraahunay uth chalsahi parbhaat.

Like an overnight guest, you shall arise and depart in the morning.

ki-AA tooN rataa girsat si-o sabh fulaa kee baagaat. 2

Why are you so attached to your household? It is all like flowers in the garden. 2

mayree mayree ki-AA karahi jin Dee-AA so parabh lorh.

Why do you say, "Mine, mine?" Look to God, who has given it to you.

sarpar uthee chalnaa chhad jaasee lakh karorh. 3

It is certain that you must arise and depart, and leave behind your hundreds of thousands and millions. 3

lakh cha-oraaseeh bharmati-AA dulabh janam paa-i-o-ay.

Through 8.4 million incarnations you have wandered, to obtain this rare and precious human life.

naanak naam samaal tooN so din nayrhaa AA-i-o-ay. 42292

O Nanak, remember the Naam, the Name of the Lord; the day of departure is drawing near! 42292

So clearly, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji sees plants, animals, and minerals, on one level in terms of life, and then human form on another. To take the life of a plant is the same as an animal in terms of spirituality. The following Ang although a metaphor for how people who speak the truth are treated, clearly shows the mind of the Guru's when seeing life in all its form, be it plant, mineral or animal:

Page 143 of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji

mehlaa 1.

First Mehl:

vaykh je mithaa kati-AA kat kut baDhaa paa-ay.

Look, and see how the sugar-cane is cut down. After cutting away its branches, its feet are bound together into bundles,

khundhaa andar rakh Kai dayn so mal sajaa-ay.

and then, it is placed between the wooden rollers and crushed.

ras kas tatar paa-ee-ai tapai tai villaa-ay.

What punishment is inflicted upon it! Its juice is extracted and placed in the cauldron; as it is heated, it groans and cries out.

bhee so fog samaalee-ai dichai ag jaalaa-ay.

And then, the crushed cane is collected and burnt in the fire below.

naanak mithai patree-ai vaykhhu lokaa AA-ay. 2

Nanak: come, people, and see how the sweet sugar-cane is treated! 2

The folly of the argument that spiritually one is committing a bigger sin when killing an animal than a plant is a foolish one. The biological argument is a different one and is not tackled within the Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji, but that in itself shows, the choice of whether or not to eat meat is a personal one and has nothing to do with the Sikh religion.