Zubair Qureshi
Wife of the Egyptian Ambassador Mrs Ghada Ahmed on Tuesday gave a farewell gift—as she and her husband are departing for new diplomatic assignment later this month—to her Pakistani friends in the form of a unique book of recipes “Culinary Diplomacy: Sharing Recipes, Building Bridges” launched at Serena Hotel.
The book is in fact a joint effort of the group “Heads of Diplomatic Missions Spouses Group” of which she has been a president since March 2018.
The book is different from other books of recipes as it presents brief history, traditions, cultural and culinary delights of various countries ranging from Balkan to Africa, Middle East to ASEAN and regional to Europe and beyond.
The book sale she said would be donated as charity and numerous individuals and organizations took part in the noble cause from content preparation to printing and even for its launching ceremony.
She particularly mentioned Serena Hotel CEO Aziz Boolani his spouse Waqarun Nisa Boolani, Marriott Hotel, TCS Visatronix, Mian Fazal Elahi, Bank Alfalah and its representative Amina Ansari for generous contributions and giving valuable input at each stage.
Spouse of President Dr Arif Alvi, Samina Alvi was the chief guest on the occasion while spouse of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and President of PFOWA Mehriene Qureshi, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Atadjan Movlamov, ambassadors and their spouses and a number of diplomats along with chefs and recipes of their respective countries participated in the book launching ceremony.
In her speech as chief guest, Dr Samina Alvi said culinary diplomacy was an important tool that could bring together nations and people from other parts of the world under the same roof. “I always appreciate and recommend diplomacy through culinary,” she said.
She also drew the attention of the audience to Ehsas Programme that also aims at helping and empowering the needy and the destitute. On my personal level, I am trying to set up a vocational training institute for the disabled persons, she said.
Earlier, Mrs Ghada Ahmed while speaking about the book said it was a gem on its own. “Anyone who is interested in food, history and culture will enjoy going through this book. I encourage you all today to buy copies of the book for yourselves, and as a gift for your friends,” she said.
Commercial books usually don’t go beyond 40 recipes but “Culinary Diplomacy: Sharing Recipes, Building Bridges” offers around 140 dishes from around the world ranging from appetizers, salads, drinks to main courses, breads, cakes and eve spice mixes.
One could find on the table Japanese Sushi, French Ratatouille, Italian Pasta and Austrian Viennese Schnitzel besides delights from Pakistan like Chicken Biryani and Central Asian cuisine. Spouse of Bosnian Ambassador on the occasion gave a live demonstration of a popular cuisine of her country and won audience’s applause.
