Hyderabad Wins UNESCO’s ‘Creative City For Gastronomy’, All Thanks To The Magic Of Biryani & Haleem

Hyderabad just made it to the UNESCO network of creative cities under the gastronomy category.?

On the occasion of World Cities Day 2019, UNESCO had announced that Mumbai and Hyderabad have been included in its network of Creative Cities. Gastronomy provides direct and indirect livelihood to about 12 per cent of the city's working population.?

Picture For Representation/Twitter

Food historians, critics, and chefs across the country agreed that Hyderabad deserved the accolade not just for the varied range of dishes that it has to offer, but also for its use of home-grown ingredients and its cooking techniques.

Hyderabad is a "melting pot of northern influences and southern flavours", said Delhi Taj Mahal Hotel's executive chef, Arun Sundararaj.

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister, K.T. Rama Rao shared the good news on his Twitter handle.

According to The Hindu, Hyderabad consumes about 700 tonnes of chicken every day and 2,000 tonnes during festivals. These figures probably played a major role in bringing Hyderabad to the top of the list.

Hyderabadi cuisine has borrowed from other culinary cultures like those of Mughals and evolved over the years, with the use of local ingredients, K.T. Rama Rao said.

"The characteristic ingredients or spices of the cuisine include curry leaves, ginger, chilli, tamarind, and all local seasonal vegetables."

"Compared to the curries in northern India, which are lighter and smoother due to the use of pistachios or cashew, Hyderabadi curries are heavier because they often use 'khus khus', coconut or peanuts," Sundararaj told PTI.

Here's what Twitter had to say about it:?

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The city's cuisine is extremely "evolved and intensive in taste", said Corporate Chef, ITC Hotels and Welcome Hotel, Manisha Bhasin. She said the Hyderabadi blend of spices cannot be found anywhere else in India.

Besides elementary spices like ginger and tamarind, what renders the cuisine its unique flavour are ingredients like 'ambada', a sour leafy plant sorrel, dry roasted coconut and saffron.

Hyderabad was among the 66 cities named by the UNESCO, in the list of new Creative Cities, which aims at pushing Sustainable Development Goals through innovative thinking and action.?