Hospitality and the dastarkhan

To the seat of honour

Receiving a guest is an honour in an Uzbek home; as the proverb has it, ‘a guest ranks above your father’. The host meets visitors at the door and seats them at the to‘r, the place furthest from the entrance and the most honoured. The dastarkhan — a cloth spread on the floor or over a low table — is never left bare: first bread, tea, raisins, nuts, halva and fruit, then soup, and only at the end plov or another main dish.

The host breaks the bread and sets it before the guests, and either he or the youngest member of the family pours the tea. Hands are washed before and after eating, often from a ewer over a basin. At the end an elder says a short prayer and everyone passes their palms over their face; only then is it polite to rise.

Tips for guests

Take your shoes off at the door and greet elders with your right hand on your heart. Never place bread upside down or drop it, and eat the piece your host has broken for you. Bringing sweets or fruit is a nice touch. Your host will keep offering more; to show you are full, thank them warmly with a hand on your heart. If you are given something from the table as you leave — sarqit — accept it: it is a way of sharing blessing.