The History of Biryani | Explains
Biryani, one of the most beloved dishes in India and Pakistan, is iconic, regal, and dates back 3,000 years. Today, it has become a street food that is affordable and accessible to all–and it’s thanks to a brand that was launched in Karachi in the 1980’s: Shan Masalas.
Usually made with meat and cooked in layers of spicy, tangy, and sweet flavors, Biryani is an elaborate rice dish. In the 1980’s, Shan Masala, packaged spice mixes, were launched–modernizing desi cuisine and freeing up many South Asian women’s time. In 2020 alone, Shan Masala made around $85 million USD in revenue.
Mentions of Biryani have been found in Tamil poems that date as far back as 200 CE, to 17th century cookbooks from a royal Mughal kitchen. Biryani today represents several millennia of the subcontinent's unique mix of different flavors, techniques and cooking cultures.
Though there’s a lot of hype around who invented biryani and who has the best biryani, every region has delicious biryani–and comes with its own story.
Host
Ahmer Naqvi
Producer
Stephanie Tangkilisan
Associate Producer
Manal Ahmed
Writer and Researcher
Ahmer Naqvi
Additional Writer and Researcher
Manal Ahmed
Director of Photography
Muhammad Abbas Parkar
Editor
Rendy Abi
Post Production Coordinator
Skolastika Lupitawina
Editor in Chief
Keshia Hannam
Head of Production
Stephanie Tangkilisan
Animator
Fajar Alkan
Graphic Design
Samuel Kang
Fitra Pratama
Annie Zhao
Additional Archival Material
Latifs Inspired
Getty Images
Halal Chef
Food Fusion
Marion's Kitchen
Kashmir Tasty Treats
Indian Food Loves You
Divyakant Solanki
Rana Hamza Saif - RHS
Epicurious
Joshua Weissman
British Pathé
BFI
Sameer Kay Vlogs
A Pakistani Kitchenette
Kanwal Ki Duniya
Mubashir Saddique
Shan Foods
The Food Ranger
Strictly Dumpling
Wikimedia
Street Food PK
Nambi Sankaran
Amazon
Pakistan Rare Videos
Livemint
Profit.pakistantoday
Economic Times
Karachi Street View - Pakistan
Your Food Lab
Max McFarlin
Additional Music
Olive Musique - Life as We Make It
Ben Beiny - On the Winds of Change
Tanager Kid - Door to Nowhere
Usually made with meat and cooked in layers of spicy, tangy, and sweet flavors, Biryani is an elaborate rice dish. In the 1980’s, Shan Masala, packaged spice mixes, were launched–modernizing desi cuisine and freeing up many South Asian women’s time. In 2020 alone, Shan Masala made around $85 million USD in revenue.
Mentions of Biryani have been found in Tamil poems that date as far back as 200 CE, to 17th century cookbooks from a royal Mughal kitchen. Biryani today represents several millennia of the subcontinent's unique mix of different flavors, techniques and cooking cultures.
Though there’s a lot of hype around who invented biryani and who has the best biryani, every region has delicious biryani–and comes with its own story.
Host
Ahmer Naqvi
Producer
Stephanie Tangkilisan
Associate Producer
Manal Ahmed
Writer and Researcher
Ahmer Naqvi
Additional Writer and Researcher
Manal Ahmed
Director of Photography
Muhammad Abbas Parkar
Editor
Rendy Abi
Post Production Coordinator
Skolastika Lupitawina
Editor in Chief
Keshia Hannam
Head of Production
Stephanie Tangkilisan
Animator
Fajar Alkan
Graphic Design
Samuel Kang
Fitra Pratama
Annie Zhao
Additional Archival Material
Latifs Inspired
Getty Images
Halal Chef
Food Fusion
Marion's Kitchen
Kashmir Tasty Treats
Indian Food Loves You
Divyakant Solanki
Rana Hamza Saif - RHS
Epicurious
Joshua Weissman
British Pathé
BFI
Sameer Kay Vlogs
A Pakistani Kitchenette
Kanwal Ki Duniya
Mubashir Saddique
Shan Foods
The Food Ranger
Strictly Dumpling
Wikimedia
Street Food PK
Nambi Sankaran
Amazon
Pakistan Rare Videos
Livemint
Profit.pakistantoday
Economic Times
Karachi Street View - Pakistan
Your Food Lab
Max McFarlin
Additional Music
Olive Musique - Life as We Make It
Ben Beiny - On the Winds of Change
Tanager Kid - Door to Nowhere
Transcript
00:00 One of the most popular images of South Asia is the Taj Mahal.
00:03 And if the Taj Mahal was a dish, it would be the biryani.
00:07 Iconic, regal, and marvelous, the biryani is an elaborate rice dish,
00:11 usually made with meat and cooked in layers of spicy, tangy, and sweet flavors.
00:17 It is served at everything from weddings to funerals and found all across the subcontinent.
00:23 There's a lot of hype around who invented biryani and even more around whose biryani is best.
00:29 Hi, my name is Ahmer Naqvi and I've spent 27% of my life
00:33 arguing with people online about biryani.
00:36 I'm going to convince you in less than 5 minutes why Karachi,
00:40 Pakistan might be the biryani capital of the world.
00:43 This is EST Explains.
00:45 Biryani is one of the subcontinent's most beloved dishes.
00:49 While some believe it was a dish brought into South Asia by invaders,
00:53 the dish has been around in some form or another for millennia.
00:57 Its evolution showcases South Asia's unique history.
01:01 The historian Nilanjan Hajra traces the story back 3,000 years ago.
01:07 He quotes from the ancient, sacred texts called Upanishads,
01:11 which mention a dish made from rice, ghee, and meat from a vigorous bull.
01:17 Hajra shows how this glorious trio of rice, fat, and meat
01:21 re-emerges and evolves across South Asian history.
01:25 He finds recipes for it everywhere,
01:27 from an epic Tamil-language poem as far back as 200 CE
01:31 to a 17th-century cookbook from a royal Mughal kitchen.
01:34 Conquest and cultural exchange kept making this dish more complex,
01:39 but what never changed?
01:41 The basic trio of rice, meat, and fat.
01:45 Biryani now has many variants across the subcontinent,
01:48 but at the time of independence from the British,
01:51 this wasn't largely true in what is Pakistan today.
01:55 Then, in 1947, as vast populations moved,
01:59 millions of mostly Muslim immigrants arrived in the city of Karachi
02:03 from largely north and central India.
02:06 Food in Karachi, like everything else, was never the same again.
02:10 The demographics of the Hindu-majority, cosmopolitan port city
02:14 changed sharply overnight.
02:16 Migrants brought their own recipes and taste to the city,
02:19 and Karachi inherited a whole bunch of biryani varieties from across the region.
02:25 But then, the real game-changer showed up - Shan Masalas.
02:29 If you're South Asian, you probably already know about these sacred little boxes.
02:34 Launched from Karachi in the 1980s,
02:36 Shan modernized desi cuisine by helping cut down the long cook times
02:41 characteristic of South Asian cooking.
02:44 This especially impacted South Asian women and freed up a lot of their time.
02:48 Shan eventually became a huge global brand,
02:52 known for the power of their flavors.
02:54 What was most unique about them was how founder Sikandar Sultan
02:58 mixed and matched traditions to make something new.
03:01 In the city of innovation, Shan reinvented classics.
03:05 From Shan's employees who belonged to the region of Sindh,
03:08 came inspiration for the company Sindhi Biryani.
03:11 Meanwhile, their Maiman Mutton Biryani,
03:14 borrowed from a rice dish popular amongst the Maiman community,
03:18 would originally belong to Western India.
03:21 And the Bombay Biryani?
03:22 An ode to Mr. Sultan's wife, who came from Bombay.
03:26 Through this, biryani turned into street food eaten across the city.
03:31 While many cities and regions in South Asia have their standard biryani variations,
03:44 Karachi is home to multiple.
03:47 In 2020 alone, Shan Masala made around 85 million US dollars in revenue,
03:52 and in 2019, it exported approximately 19 million dollars worth of products,
03:57 mainly to North America.
03:59 Even Gigi Hadid has featured these spices on her Instagram story.
04:03 But she's far from being the only one.
04:05 Look at this 2015 advertisement about a young migrant in San Francisco
04:09 that became a viral success.
04:14 People across the world agree on just how important Shan Masala is.
04:19 Biryani today represents several millennia of the subcontinent's unique mix
04:24 of different flavors, techniques, and cooking cultures.
04:28 And the secret?
04:28 It doesn't matter which region has better biryani,
04:32 all of it is delicious and comes with its own story.
04:36 Just like the biryanis of Karachi.
04:39 [MUSIC]