Rioting broke out between rival parties Biryani Ittehad-Sindhi [BI(S)] group and Pakistan Pulao Party (PPP) in Karachi’s Boating Basin locality on Wednesday night, injuring several. The injured  were shifted to the Beemar hospital in Clifton and are being treated for burns and bruises caused by flying masala, hot chicken stock, and handis. Police officials say they have arrested 14 members of both parties, eight from the PPP and six from the BI(S).

Witnesses say that at 9:00 p.m. outside the Biryani Bistro, 10 masked men arrived with hot thermoses of yakhni and bags of mutton bones. They flung the bones on the restaurant windows and tried to enter the establishment. When the guard at the restaurant entrance tried to stop them, they poured the hot yakhni on the guard who suffered second-degree burns.

Half an hour later, eight more men arrived at the restaurant, bearing rotten potatoes and large handis. As the men clashed outside the restaurant over cries of 'Biryani Khapay' and 'Pulao zindabad', scared customers tried to leave, but were stopped by the unknown men who blockaded the door with the handis.

A waiter at Biryani Bistro, who wishes to remain anonymous, narrated the ordeal: “The restaurant was busy – we were serving fish and chicken biryani plates by the dozen – when we heard a crash outside. And then we heard the shouts and screams. Our manager called the police and the owner. "

A customer at the restaurant says that many people inside the restaurant ducked beneath their chairs and tables. “I saw one man scarfing down his plate of Bombay biryani under his table, even as children were crying in fear. Like biryani was important at that time.”

Sources in the Pakistan Pulao Party deny that their party workers attacked the restaurant. But one member admitted that the Biryani Bistro’s ad campaign had incensed the party and disrupted its efforts to bring the stock-flavoured rice dish back in vogue.

For two weeks, the restaurant had been running an aggressive ad campaign on hoardings, television, and radio with the tagline: “Bland pulao or masala masti biryani? It’s not even a choice.” Another says: “Naseem Zahra or Meera? Plain or glamorous? Pulao or biryani? It’s not even a choice.”  After the campaign was launched, several of Biryani Bistro’s hoardings around the country had been blackened, while one television channel had even received an anonymous phone-call threatening dire consequences if the advertisement was run.

The Biryani Bistro brawl is just one in a series of physical disputes between the two groups. Over the course of last year, the BI(S) and PPP have publicly clashed four times.  While biryani-exclusive eateries such as Student’s Biryani have been attacked, the city’s restaurants serving both biryani and pulao have found graffiti on the wall saying: “Biryani jalao, Pulao khao.”

“This has become unnecessarily violent,” says food historian General (retired)  Masood Saeed. “It has become a clash of culture, even a clash of civilizations.” The general is publishing a book on the subject next month titled The politics of rice, in which he argues that even though both dishes are of Persian origin and were brought to India by Muslim conquerors, the personal preference for either pulao or biryani has become politicised and public. “The popularity of biryani has offended pulao-lovers, while the propaganda for biryani as the pure Muslim dish has provoked a political reaction. Both dishes were brought to India by Muslims.”

Early this month, several newspapers ran print ads in which pulao was compared to paella and risotto – so-called ‘kafir’ dishes – while biryani was extolled as the food of devout Muslims. The newspapers eventually had to pull off the ads after demonstrations were held outside their offices by Pakistan Pulao Party members. “It was an insult to a sophisticated dish. Pulao doesn’t make you belch crudely like biryani,” said a PPP worker at the demonstration. “Calling it ‘kafir’ is just hitting below the belt.”

Eminent chef and TV personality Chef Zuby told Dawn.com that she is distressed at the turn of events. “Both biryani and pulao are dishes of kings, of life itself. While pulao is subtle and aromatic, biryani is layered and pungent. They are complete meals. It is not a matter of religion or origin, but of taste.” Chef Zuby then bowed her head and fiddled with the glass green bangles which perfectly matched her sari. “Food is meant to bring people together, not tear them apart.”

Meanwhile, at a press conference held the day after the Biryani Bistro incident, the restaurant’s owner Abdul Chawalwala denied reports that he is a member of the Biryani Ittehad-Sindhi. “I did not call in the hooligans from that party, and I am not a member. I just love biryani.” Mr. Chawalwala also denied accusations that the dishes served at his eatery are made from ready-made masala packets. “I do not use Shan masala to make my biryani. Our dishes are made with our own spice combinations and love.”

Unfortunately, there is no love lost between those who bay for biryani and people who dig their pulao.

The following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.