Pilaf Festival to be held in Shymkent

The second oblast-wide Pilaf Festival will be held in Shymkent on October 27, Otyrar.kz website reports. Any person willing to take part in the Dostyk Dastarkhany (Feast of Friendship in Kazakh) Festival is welcome to participate. The event is jointly organized by South Kazakhstan Oblast's and Shymkent city’s Centers of Uzbek Culture. The festival is timed to the City Day and dedicated to the 80th anniversary of establishment of South Kazakhstan Oblast. Residents of Shymkent, Turkestan and Sayram region of the oblast took part in the Festival last year. People of different trades participated in the event. They treated the guests with different types of pilaf: Classical, Tashkent, Andizhan, Ferghana, Samarkand, Sayram, Shymkent, Chaikhana, Presidential and other varieties of the dish. Pilaf (also known as pilau and plov), is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth. In some cases, the rice may also attain its brown color by being stirred with bits of cooked onion, as well as a large mix of spices. Depending on the local cuisine, it may also contain meat and vegetables. Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central and South Asian, East African, Latin American, and Caribbean cuisines.