You name it and the wazas will be there to cook and serve. But gushtaba, a mutton delicacy cooked with yogurt, is considered the ultimate test of a waza's skills.

There is often so much food at Kashmiri weddings that much of it goes waste -- a concern that has time and again triggered government and civil society-initiated guest and dish control movements. But Kashmiris consider weddings a centrepiece of their culture and all these movements have failed.

The dishes are prepared from high quality lamb. Dozens of spices are blended and used in different quantities to give a unique aroma to each dish. The red Kashmiri chilli that is relatively less hot is the soul of some of the dishes.

'Each dish has to be cooked with the right amount of heat from the firewood which is also of a special quality,' said Gulam Nabi, the master chef.

Ask him why wazwan cannot be prepared over gas stoves, Ghulam Nabi laughs and says: 'How can that ever happen? The wazwan and the firewood go hand in hand. I cannot imagine risking my reputation by experimenting with the LPG cooking ranges.

'The firewood has been used to cook the wazwan by my forefathers and I shall continue using it,' he said.

At marriage parties, guests gather around a white-sheet spread on the floor and a round copper plate, 'trami', is shared by four people to savour the delicacies.

The chefs serve the dishes one by one and move from one plate to another till the last dish, the gushtaba, is served.

'Marriages are made in heaven, but the sweat and expertise of the chefs make them a memorable event for the guests on earth,' said a guest at a wedding while savouring the wazwan.

(F. Ahmed can be contacted at f.ahmed@ians.in)