Sindhi Food: A Cuisine Without A Country

For businessman Bhagwandas Rajwani, a visit to Ajmer, India means a pilgrimage to one particular mithai shop. Past the glittering displays of diamond-cut kaju katli and spiral golden jalebis, he sought only one thing: son vado, a brittle confection of sugar, dried fruits, and nuts. The perfect marriage between crunch and sweetness is heaven for the senses, a nightmare for the teeth. With each bite of this Sindhi delicacy, the busy street would fall away, and he would find himself back in his ancestral home, where son vado marked life’s celebrations, a home that now exists only in his memories.

For 1.2 million Hindu Sindhis forced to leave Sindh during the 1947 partition of India, food became more than sustenance: it became a living archive of a lost world. But as the last generation of Partition survivors enters its twilight years, Sindhi food enthusiasts are trying to keep that culinary heritage alive.