
By Garima Sudhan
The popular understanding of Kashmir is heavily anchored in its selective portrayal of cultural symbols, wherein its food and clothing practices are used as bait to increase tourism attraction. Kashmir’s tea culture is no stranger to this trend. Upon entering Kashmir, the spectacle of commodification is at play for consumable experiences of tourists, often washing away the histories behind these practices. Prominent commodities in this case would be the Kashmir tea and Kehwa. Kashmiri salt tea or nun chai is well renowned. It is a hot, salty beverage with a pink colour that is quite different to sweet tea varieties prevalent throughout South Asia. Prepared with a thorough brewing of green tea leaves and a little bit of salt, it is known as nun chai or namkeen chai in Kashmir. The tea leaves and preparation are different from Indian chai. At present, it is also made quickly with the addition of soda powder that accelerates its color and preparation. This method is widely used in households today as it is less time consuming
Traditionally brewed in a Samovar, nun chai holds cultural and political significance. The Samovar was introduced in Kashmir during the early modern period via trade contact with Persian and Central Asia. Samovars are a staple in a Russian tea culture that gradually made its way to Asia. In Kashmir, tea is brewed in a copper vessel with intricate motifs, finished with a lustrous nickel coating (qalai), making it both a work of art and a household essential.
Preparation of Kashmiri tea has significant components: the method of brewing, the right aroma, and, most importantly colour. The way of presenting it also sets it apart from what is usually served in other parts of South Asia. There are various regional variants of Kashmiri tea as well. In the Kashmir valley it is called nun chai or salt tea, but in the mountains of Kashmir, it is also known as namkeen chai, sabz chai. The pastoralists of Kashmir often prepare tea with a little bit of sugar and corn flour. This preparation is popular in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. From Ladakh’s “Gur Gur chai” (butter tea) with yak butter, the pink tea has evolved into variants across the region. The preparation of this tea has evolved with time and has been contingent to the trade scenario, especially tea bricks and the salt trade. Sources like the Tarikh-i-Kashmir by Hasan Bin Ali Kashmiri from the early modern period (Mughal rule) give us an idea of the tea trade and its consumption patterns in Kashmir. The many ways of making and consuming salt tea reflect its historical variation across the region, which was dictated by local ingredient availability and trade.
The undivided region of Kashmir has served as a crucial gateway to Central Asia, Yarkand, and Tibet, especially due to its geographical proximity to silk routes. Here, Kashmir refers to the political entity under Dogra rule, comprising Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan. The Mughal occupation of Kashmir in 1586 not only created favourable conditions for trade with Central Asia but also gave a push to Kashmir’s trade with other neighbouring regions. There were two famous trade routes to Central Asia. One was through Gilgit and Kashgar, and the other, from Skardu to Yarkand, crossing the Baltoro glacier. During the early modern period, Kashmiri products like saffron, shawls, and fruits were imported to the rest of the Mughal empire. Furthermore, the Pashmina wool and tea trade flourished.

Ladakh and Tibet maintained a close trade relationship through official missions, regulated by the Treaty of Tingmosgang, signed in 1684, under which Ladakh got the monopoly over shawl-wool in Tibet, and the Tibetans acquired the exclusive right to the brick-tea trade with Ladakh . These missions continued with some interruptions under Dogra rule until 1946 and came to a complete halt with the annexation of Tibet. The Lapchak, a triennial mission from Leh to Lhasa led by a senior monk and a Muslim merchant, carried presents and was viewed by Tibet as a tribute mission. In return, the annual Chapba (tea man) mission traveled from Lhasa to Leh, bringing Chinese brick tea for sale. The most vital commodity was Pashmina wool. Ladakh held a monopoly on this wool trade, constituting up to half of its trade, which it supplied to Kashmiri weavers. In the late 1840s, merchandise valued at about seven and a half lakh rupees was exchanged in Ladakh.

Arjun Appadurai and Anne Allison argue that food is a political and cultural signifier, but they analyse it with different social scales. Appadurai, in his concept of gastro-politics, argues that food is socially condensed. For him, the politics of food are embedded in the routine practices that define social belonging.
Cultural anthropologist Anne Allison examines the macro-level of state ideology and social structures. She argues that food preparation and aesthetics are mobilized as an ideological state apparatus to reinforce political agendas. Borrowing from these arguments, one can study the evolution and survival of Kashmiri tea across centuries of foreign rule. Under severe militarisation and violent historical ruptures, Kashmiri tea has been an important identity marker of Kashmiris in different parts of the world. Even under constraints like curfew, warlike situation, military crackdowns, Kashmiris seek nun chai as opposed to the more affordable Indian chai (known as Lipton chai). Kashmir has been a melting pot of cultures – under the Dogras and after its partition, Kashmir has witnessed a violent history of integration and control. Therefore, understanding Kashmiri food culture requires recognising its precarious political realities, wherein culinary traditions have contributed in strengthening solidarities and identity preservation.
*****
Garima Sudan is a graduate student in the Department of History and Archaeology at Shiv Nadar University, New Delhi. Their work is based on understanding social histories in post partitioned Kashmir, especially through concepts of space and belonging. They like to learn new languages and when not working, they spend time in the mountains of Kashmir. They aspire to bridge the gap between academic practice and community work.
References
Appadurai, A. (1981). Gastro‐politics in Hindu South Asia. American Ethnologist.
Allison, Anne. (1991). Lunchbox as Ideological State. Anthropological Quarterly.
Huttenback, Robert A.(1961). Gulab Singh and the Creation of the Dogra State of Jammu,
Kashmir and Ladakh. Journal of Asian Studies.
Karim, Afsar. (1994). Kashmir: The Troubled Frontiers. New Delhi: Lancer Publishers.
Keay, John. (1977). When Men and Mountains Meet: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas
Lamb, Alastair. (1960). The Road to Lhasa.London.
Lawrence, Walter.(1895). The Valley of Kashmir. London.
Noble, Christina. (1991). At Home in the Himalayas. London: Fontana
Rai, Mridu. (2004). Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir. Permanent Black.
Rizvi, J. (1996). Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia. Oxford University Press.
Rizvi, Janet. (1999). A Self-Reliant Economy: The Role of Trade in Pre- Independence Ladakh. Ladakh Studies
Rizvi, Janet. (1999). Trans-Himalayan Caravans, Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in
Ladakh. Oxford University Press.
Torrens, H.D. 1863). Travels in Ladakh, Tartary and Kashmir. London: Saunders Otley.
Vigne, G.T. 1842. Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo etc. London: Henry Colburn.
Van Beek, M, & Pirie, F. (2008). Modern Ladakh : anthropological perspectives on continuity and change.