Dastarkhān

A dastarkhān (Persian: دسترخوان, Tajik: дастархон, Bashkir: дастархан, romanized: dastarxan, Kyrgyz: дасторкон, Hindi: दस्तरख़्वान, Kazakh: дастарқан, Bengali: দস্তরখান, Uzbek: dasturxon, Nepali: दस्तरखान) or dastarkhwān is the name used across Central Asia, South Asia, the Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji to refer to the traditional space where food is eaten.^[1][2][3] The term is a word of Persian origin and alter name for "Sofreh" (persian: سفره) meaning the tablecloth which is spread on the ground, floor, or table as a sanitary surface for food.^[2][3]

Dastarkhan is a abbreviation of "Dast Tar Khan" (دست تر خوان) which word by word means "Wet Hand Tablecloth" and it's comes from tradition of the host providing water with "Aftabeh Lagan" (آفتابه لگن) for guests to wash their hands before and after spreading the tablecloth. It was based on Islamic teachings of washing hands before eating and considered as means of respect and service to the guests. The tradition is almost vanished in Iran and Tajikistan but still lightly lasts in Afghanistan. Therefore in Iran for new generation the word dadtarkhan not being used anymore and its meaning not clear for the younger generation but the word is wastly used in Afghanistan though the tradition is fading.

The Mughal Indian cookbook Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh, which details the Awadhi cuisine of Lucknow, emphasized the importance of the dastarkhwan.^[4]

The word mainly used in Persian for tablecloth is Sofreh (سفره) and in older times the word Khan (خوان) used to. And Dastarkhan was due to tradition of providing water to wash hands before and after eating. It is used in many other languages of the South and Central Asian region such as Uyghur, Balochi, Bengali, Pashto, Urdu, Sindhi, Hindi, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Bhojpuri and Nepali.^[5][6]

• Central Asian cuisine
• South Asian cuisine
• Bengali cuisine
• Caribbean cuisine