Afghan Table Manners / Dastarkhan
Afghan Table Manners
We four Peace Corps teachers had recently arrived in Afghanistan when our colleagues, Jamil, invited us home for dinner. We were excited to demonstrate our best table manners.
When we entered the dining area, we saw that the “table” was a carpet covered with a large white sheet; there were no chairs. A servant brought an ornate ewer and basin, soap, and a towel for cleaning our hands.
A huge platter of rice, with savory lamb kebabs hidden beneath, was placed in the middle of the tablecloth. Around the platter were small dishes of pickled vegetables (torshi), sautéed spinach, plus fried eggplant and pumpkin in tangy yogurt sauce. Each had a fancy serving spoon. We dished out the food and were ready to dig in.
The problem was, there were no utensils. We were to eat with our hands, so we just dug in. We were stopped immediately, and told to put our left hand behind us. We complied and resumed eating, getting food everywhere, soiling the tablecloth. What a mess!
Then Jamil, smiling, began his tutorial on Afghan table manners: mix the food together, make a cup with your right hand, scoop up the food, place your thumb under the mix, and pop it into your mouth.
What a disaster! There was rice, lamb, torshi, spinach, eggplant, pumpkin, an yogurt everywhere. We couldn’t make it work and began laughing and coughing, and spilling more food.
All the Afghans broke out in laughter, “Don’t do it that way. Do it this way!” It was a riot.
We finally finished eating, our fingers and faces sticky, our shirts and blouses stained in a multitude of colors. The cleansing ewer was brought out, and we relaxed for conversation, cookies, and tea.
It was now time to go. We thanked Jamil’s family for their hospitality, apologizing for our terrible table manners. They told us not to worry and welcomed us for another try.
After that, we were invited to many students’ homes, and their parents marveled at how polite the Americans were with their fine table manners.
Dastarkhan
Cynthia August
Mixed Media
- Susan Maguire
About the Creators
Susan Maguire
The first time Susan Maguire marched against injustice, was when MLK was assassinated in April, 1968. She has been fighting for peace and justice ever since.
Susan graduated from college in May, 1968 and by October was in the Peace Corps teaching English to high school girls in Afghanistan. After that she taught English to Iranian students for four years in Iran. These experiences inspired a lifelong career of teaching and publishing in the field of ESL.
In Peace Corps training Susan lived among farm workers and their families in a migrant labor camp in Colorado. They had been picking crops from El Paso to Colorado. The person in the painting Sunburnt reminds Susan of one of those workers.
Susan is writing two memoirs, Afghanistan Escapades and Iran Escapades. Pronouns is her first published work.
Cynthia August
Cynthia is a commercial and fine art portrait photographer. She is known for her 'magic realism'- style portraits that are created in camera, in the moment, and feature costumes and props she often makes herself. She works out of her studio in the Tyler Building in Ipswich but can often be seen in the woods or the ocean with her camera.
She is also the founder and former president of the Ipswich Art Association, Chair of the Ipswich Cultural Council, and a long time member of the North Shore Creative Collective. In 2023 she was selected for the Essex County Creative Foundation's ChangeMaker Program, a yearly cohort dedicated to advancing the creative potential of Essex County by building a strong arts and culture ecosystem. She believes strongly in the power of art to connect and build community. You can follow her on instagram @the_light_in_august