The historically famous Hyderabad has added one more feather to its cap. The mouth-watering biryani and haleem have once again given the Nizam’s city a global recognition. In context with the World Cities Day on October 31, UNESCO has released the “Network of Creative Cities” list. Among the 66 cities, two cities Hyderabad and Mumbai from India have been included in the list. Hyderabad is designated in the gastronomy category, while Mumbai is designated in the films section. From India, 8 cities have applied to this list.
Telangana state minister K.T. Rama Rao, City’s mayor Bonthu Rammohan Rao, GHMC commissioner Lokesh Kumar have expressed their elation over the list. The roots for Hyderabad flavors have been found before 800 years ago. The special recipes were available even from the pre-Islamic period during the Kakatiya reign in 12 century. New recipes have been added by the Turkish in the 15th century and Mughals in the 17th century. All these things have made Hyderabad, a cosmopolitan city. In Hyderabad, there are 2200 registered restaurants and more than one lakh unregistered restaurants.
More than 3 lakh people are employed directly or indirectly in these food stalls, hotels and restaurants. It is nearly 12% of the people who are working in the city. Daily, on a rough estimate, 700 tonnes of chicken and 291 tonnes of mutton are consumed by the people of Hyderabad and during the festive season, this count goes to double. Apart from biryani and haleem, the city is also famous for kebabs, shikampur, kallu, and chowki dinners.
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