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Food is not just something you eat, but a representation of centuries of culture passed down through the loving act of cooking and sharing meals. Sounds like a cliché, right? The concept of the Bohri Thaal proves that this is not a cliché, but a fact. Shared meals within and beyond a community can create a connection and evoke memories like nothing else can. The Indian subcontinent especially has this concept of people, loved ones especially, sharing food from the same plate.
But while many communities have dropped this tradition for the sake of Westernized modernity or a sense of individual hygiene, the Dawoodi Bohra community has persisted through their festive meal called the Bohri Thaal. Slurrp caught up with two proud representatives of Bohri cuisine to understand the origins of the Bohri Thaal to explore how the community keeps their age-old tradition alive even today.
“The Bohri Thaal is a huge cultural and marketing asset,” says Munaf Kapadia, the founder of The Bohri Kitchen, Mumbai. Anybody familiar with the Indian food industry knows that it was with Kapadia’s venture that the Bohri food boom started. At the very centre of his popular business is the Travelling Thaal, which he has catered to get togethers as well as celebrities like Hrithik Roshan and Rishi Kapoor. “Everybody loves eating from the Bohri Thaal, especially the minute you make it a little more comfortable and customized,” he adds.
“When we Bohris attend a festive event or gathering, the chances are we’ll be sitting with a complete stranger and sharing a meal presented on the Bohri Thaal that helps us socialize and bond better,” says Moiz Nalwala, the founder of a Bohri food business in Pune called Bohri Kitchen 53. “It is also a great exercise in generating awareness, which is what we hope to do every time we present the Bohri Thaal to people from different communities.”
Image credit: Instagram/The Bohri Kitchen
Origins Of Bohri Cuisine And The Bohri Thaal
“The Dawoodi Bohra community falls under the Shia sect of Islam,” Kapadia explains. “This community originally came from Yemen to Gujarat, which is why Bohri food is a representation of this journey. If you look at a Bohri household, it’s a very interesting mix of Yemeni and Gujarati influences.” Nalwala explains that most Bohris, whether they still live in the state or not, speak Gujarati.
Naturally, the amalgamation of cultures extends to food. “We make a Mutton Undhiyo, for example, which is a very normal Bohri household dish,” Kapadia explains. “We make smoked Toor Dal Samosas and a Dal Chawal Falida, which are vegetarian Bohri dishes. These tie us back to Gujarat.”
Nalwala explains the Bohri Thaal setup from scratch. “Made of steel, this Thaal can easily accommodate seven to 10 courses for six to nine people,” he says. “We first lay down a square cloth or rug on the floor, then we place an elevated stand on it and the Bohri Thaal is presented on the stand. The rug is added because we believe no grain should be wasted, and it acts as a saviour.” Sounds like a very sustainable concept, and Kapadia also explains that it was the driving force behind the origins of Bohri Thaal.
“The idea of the Bohri Thaal—which is based on the concept of people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor, around the same large plate and eating shared dishes off it—is basically rooted in our Yemeni origins,” Kapadia says. He adds that there might have been another practical reason behind the Bohri Thaal concept. “Rumour has it that sand would get into food when people sat down to eat, so they started the practice of surrounding the plate to create a barrier between the elements and the food,” he says.
“It’s more resourceful, it’s more practical, and it’s also very sustainable as a practice. Within this concept, more traditions were created that are now considered to be the best practices of how to eat,” Kapadia explains. “For example, the idea of starting a meal by tasting salt—you do this as a natural way of cleansing your palate while also making you salivate.” Nalwala explains another tradition, the use of the Chilam Chil Lota. “The people eating the Bohri Thaal sit around the plate and they are offered water from the Chilam Chil Lota to wash their hands,” he says.
Image credit: Instagram/The Bohri Kitchen
One of the most outstanding elements of the Bohri Thaal concept for this author was the idea of alternating between Kharas (savoury dishes) and Mithas (sweet dishes) throughout the course of the meal. Most meals and Indian Thaalis follow the concept of starting with savoury dishes and ending with sweets—Bengalis, in fact, start with bitters, move to savouries and finish with sour and then sweet. The Bohris, on the other hand, start their meals with something sweet!
“Kharas-Mithas is nothing but the concept of serving sweets and savouries in an alternative fashion on a Bohri Thaal,” Kapadia explains. “One reason is that we believe this aids digestion. But the other reason why it is done is to reset your palate. So, you have had Mutton Samosas and the next savoury course could be Cutlets or Biryani, but having something sweet in between will make those dishes much more enjoyable. The sweet dishes we include as Mithas in the Bohri Thaal work like a sorbet would in a Western meal.”
For Nalwala and his family, the Mithas dishes in their Bohri Thaal include Bohri favourites like Sheer Korma and Malai Khaja as well as more popular Indian dishes like Gajar Ka Halwa and Doodhi Halwa. In Kharas, Nalwala includes a variety of samosas and kebabs. The Jaman or main courses include Bohri Mutton Biryani, Yakhni Pulao, Kabsa Rice, Kari Chawal, Haleem, Paya Chawal and Dal Chawal Falida. Soups like Paya and Mutton Khurdi are also often served as a part of the Thaal.
At The Bohri Kitchen, the Bohri Thaal starts with salt, followed by Sodannu, which is a sweet dish. Then the Kharas courses begin with Mutton Samosas and Russian Cutlets, followed by another Mithas dish, Malai Khaja. While Sodannu is a rice-based sweet dish, Malai Khaja is basically pastry sheets stuffed with sweet cream and dry fruits. This is followed by a more elaborate dish like Mutton Raan or Parathas, followed again with something like a Mango Barfi. Then start the Jaman or the main courses, which include Biryani, Kari Chawal, Mutton Khichda with rotis, etc.
Nalwala’s personal favourites from the Bohri Thaal include Kari Chawal, which has a coconut milk-cashew and spice gravy cooked with mutton. Kapadia’s personal favourites from the Bohri Thaal are the smoked Mutton Samosas, which he describes as “the definition of umami for me”. Another much-loved dish is Kaju Chicken, which is chicken cooked in a cashewnut gravy, garnished with egg white slices and coriander.
Image credit: Instagram/The Bohri Kitchen
Despite everything, Kapadia feels that there are certain barriers to eating from that big, common Bohri Thaal. “We ourselves, as families, are guilty of having become Westernized. No matter how resourceful, sustainable or joyful, we all prefer to eat our regular meals sitting on tables and chairs, with individual plates,” Kapadia quips. “Even then, every once in a while, we love to eat out of a Thaal as a more fun and communal eating experience. The conversations and experiences you have while sharing a Bohri Thaal are very different from the ones you have while sitting on a dining table.”
Another major event that has had an impact on the concept of the Bohri Thaal is the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and hygiene practices must have created a huge barrier to serving and enjoying Bohri Thaals, right? Kapadia says it did. “When COVID happened, all Bohri caterers were out of business for a significant period of time. Many shifted to boxes and packaging to make everything safer. I almost shut down my own business, but luckily, we also managed to pivot,” he says.
For Nalwala and his family, on the other hand, the pandemic gave them that extra push to start a Bohri catering business to support and represent the community better. By commercializing Bohri cuisine from their homes, both Kapadia and Nalwala have, in fact, broken another barrier—the gender one. “I can’t think of one household where a Bohri man is cooking, but in commercial operations it is usually the Ustaads who prepare the food,” Kapadia says. With his mother as one of the main talents behind The Bohri Kitchen, this very Indian barrier was overcome.
In Nalwala’s case, it went even further. “The Bohri dishes and the Bohri Thaal we prepare at home are cooked by my mother, my wife and me,” he explains. “Whenever I cook, my mother and my wife guide me so that we ensure we are serving authentic Bohri cuisine. My Naani also taught me a couple of Bohri recipes that I cook regularly.” As both entrepreneurs keep the tradition of the Bohri Thaal alive, they also hope that more people and communities across India and the world explore their unique Bohri cuisine through this grand, shared meal.
