Srinagar, June 16 -- In every Kashmiri home, food has always been more than just sustenance. It's memory, ritual, identity.

Dishes like haakh, nadru yakhni, rista, and rogan josh were once prepared slowly, often over firewood, allowing flavours to deepen and ingredients to release their healing qualities.

Breads like girda, tchot, and lawasa were baked in local kandar waans. They were hand-kneaded, naturally fermented, and slapped onto hot clay walls.

Even our staple rice, or batta, was boiled in open pots, with the starch-rich water (kanz) drained out to keep it light on the stomach.

Today, the dishes remain. But something essential has changed. They don't nourish us the way they once did. Why?

The answer lies in how we cook them. ...