Dastarkhān

{{Short description|Traditional space where food is eaten}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Dastarkhān

| image = File:"Гап" - дар сари дастархон (6).jpg

| image_size = 300px

| caption = Aksakals by dastarkhān

| alternate_name =

| country = Afghanistan, Bashkortostan, Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Tatarstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

| region =

| creator =

| course =

| type =

| served =

| main_ingredient =

| variations =

| calories =

| other =

}}

A dastarkhān (Persian / Urdu: دسترخوان, {{langx|tg|дастархон}}, {{langx|ba|дастархан|dastarxan}}, {{langx|ky|дасторкон}}, {{langx|hi|दस्तरख़्वान}}, {{langx|kk|дастарқан}}, {{langx|bn|দস্তরখান}}, {{langx|uz|dasturxon}}, {{langx|ne|दस्तरखान}}) or dastarkhwān is the name used across Central Asia and South Asia to refer to the traditional dining space where food is eaten.Ken Albala. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zG1H75z0EYYC&dq=Dastarkhan+turkic&pg=RA2-PA49 Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia: Four Volumes] ABC-CLIO, 25 mei 2011 {{ISBN|978-0313376276}} p 49Suad Joseph, Afsāna Naǧmābādī. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bzXzWgVajnQC&dq=Dastarkhan+traditional+central+asian+cuisine&pg=PA285 Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, Body, Sexuality And Health, Volume 3] BRILL, 2003 {{ISBN|978-9004128194}} p 285Glenn Randall Mack, Asele Surina. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j7MTx_zcIR0C&dq=Dastarkhan+turkic&pg=PA39 Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia] Greenwood Publishing Group, 1 jan. 2005 {{ISBN|978-0313327735}} p 39 The term is a word of Persian origin meaning the tablecloth which is spread on the ground, floor, or table as a sanitary surface for food.

The Mughal Indian cookbook Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh, which details the Awadhi cuisine of Lucknow, emphasized the importance of the dastarkhwan.{{cite book |last1=Everaert |first1=Christine |title=Tracing the Boundaries Between Hindi and Urdu: Lost and Added in Translation Between 20th Century Short Stories |date=2010 |publisher=Brill Publishers |isbn=9789004177314 |page=75 |language=English}}