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I'm currently inside the world's biggest community kitchen where they cook meals for over 100,000 people a day including 200,000 roti's and 2 tons of dal a day. Wow, it's bigger than a lot of swimming pools. Welcome to Amritsar in the state of Punjab, India. This is the spiritual home of Sikhism. I'm here to find out what it takes to cook for so many people. How does the food taste? And also how is it possible that everything is completely free for everyone? Good morning. Good Iqbal. Good morning. And very good and we have a huge day ahead of us going to the Golden Temple. We're going to be seeing the entire process cooking one of the world's largest meals and biggest kitchens. And now we're just walking into the
Golden Temple. And so you were saying that there's four entrances, right? entrances primarily denoting that everyone is welcomed. All the religion, the major four one and there is no discrimination on any part. I think that's one of the main principles of Sikhism, right? Is equality. It is People no matter what your background, no matter what your caste, creed, race, religion economic level Everybody is treated equal. treated equal with love, with compassion, with kindness. And that's what the city stands for. That's what our religion stands for. Incredible. And so the Golden Temple is really the spiritual home, the heart of Sikhism. And yeah, wait till you see the Golden Temple. And we're just getting our first glimpse of the entrance. This is just the
entrance of the Golden Temple and it is spectacular with the marble, with the golden domes. And we'll get in from here. But before we go inside though, there's something we need to do. Yeah, so we'll we'll get this one for you. Okay, great. Do the colors represent anything in Sikhism? they does. The orange and the blue one has a great significance. It is a clan of people. There's a set of people called Nihangs. So you would find them wearing all blue from head to top. Usually these are the religious colors that are considered. Orange one and the blue one. Navy blue one. It's time. You have to put this in your mouth.
Yeah, okay. And hold it tight. Hold it tight? Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Oh, now we are really ready for Amritsar. Yeah. Oh man, thank you. So Good Iqbal. And Mark Singh. Good Iqbal, can you just tell us really quickly what is the significance of the turban for Sikhism? Yeah, so basically turban has always been part of the South Asian culture in some way or other. But then when gurus established our religious doctrines, we were made mandate to tie turbans. Uh When the 10th guru of Sikhs commanded us to do that, it was basically a rebel against the Mughal Empire back then because turban is considered royalty. And our gurus was of the notion that
everyone is royal. Uh there should be none of the discrimination Wow. in the society. So since then we have been tying turbans in various forms, various cultures. You will see a lot of different kind of turbans around here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, different methods of tying it as well too, right? So turban is integral part of Sikh community. It's a crown basically. It's given to you and now you all are the kings. There's no one king but you all. Amazing. Things are starting to get busy today.
Oh yes, it's always like this. It's always busy. Thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people visit. And from here actually we need to leave our shoes because there's no shoes allowed within the Golden Temple or even within the kitchen. So we'll leave our shoes here before we move in. So you should wash your hands before you go into the temple. Before you even enter, you can feel that this is a sacred a special place. And I've been to India many times but I've always wanted to visit Amritsar and especially the Golden Temple. It's going to be a very special day also learning about Sikhism, learning especially about the community and the hospitality and the equality and the serving of the langar.
It is popularly known as Golden Temple but the real name is Harmandir Sahib or as we dearly call it Darbar Sahib. And it's the most sacred sanctum space for Sikhs across the globe. No matter where you live, this is where we come to find solace, find energy, find faith and find ourselves. It's been for around 450 years that this place has been here and carrying us along. There are five such pools around the city. This being the main one which is called Amritsar where the sanctum the space is in middle of the water. And it is called as Amritsar because it's pool of nectar and from where all the Sikhs come from across to take a bath in this, to have few drops of it. And then the most sacred part is
within the center of the pool. Yeah, in the center of the pool that's the most sacred part because that is where our gurus have been sitting and giving us the blessings and helping us with their grace to live on the culture, tradition and our lives. We're about to enter the langar now and our guide was just explaining to us a langar it is the community kitchen that Guru Nanak established and every day upwards of 100,000 meals are served. People come here to eat complimentary free meal provided by volunteers. And on busier days it can be two or three times that amount. So imagine a meal at a community kitchen served to 200 or 300,000 people every day. This is the world's largest meal. And 95% of all the labor that goes into the
cooking is done by volunteers. People come here whether they have 15 minutes, whether they have a full day, whether they have a full week to come to peel garlic, to cut potatoes, to chop things, to keep the process going. And 95% is all community volunteers. And then another 5% are employees here that manage all of the cooking that happens here. Oh yes, yes. The turban. I think it's a also a way that they are hanging out with each other, community, enjoying each other's presence while they while they chop things and while they prepare and it's all for the cause of everyone and for the benefit of the entire community. No matter where you come from, no matter your economic level, no matter your status, no matter your religion. And
then as soon as they have a whole tray going then all of that will be transported to the kitchen. This is just our first glimpse into the scale and the size of the kitchen. It is truly amazing how they do it. Okay, we're moving on to the next part of the kitchen. The last dish that we saw was actually chickpeas with paneer that way they were making in the other kitchen. And now we've come to the dal kitchen where they make the world's largest pot of dal. Over 2,000 kilos of dal every day. Sometimes 3,000 kilos of dal. And one pot contains 500 kilos of dal. It's bigger than a lot of swimming pools. It is massive and that smells incredible. And we're going to have a chance to stir it right now.
So even the spoon is absolutely huge and it goes whoa, it goes really deep. The world's Wow. Yeah. That is a lot of work. That takes so much effort, so much work to stir 500 kilos of dal. Oh, there's the ghee in here. That's what's floating on top. Ghee is also a very big part of the cuisine as well and the dairy, yeah? After just stirring for a few minutes, I'm already starting to sweat. It really is a lot of work. Huge respect to all the chefs. We'll let the experts really take care. We're currently now moving on to the next section of the kitchen where they're making the roti's where everyday they make hundreds of thousands of roti's. They have some machines but
still a lot of the roti's are also made by hand by volunteers who uh knead the dough, who make them into roti's, who flatten them and cook them on the hot griddle. Woah. Oh, okay, great. A batch is ready. So, we're getting our plates now. It's time to eat. Thank you. And we've met up Anubhav has joined us. Delhi Food Walks uh he has joined us for the meal. So, it all comes down to this, all the cooking that we've seen, the community, people coming together to prepare this meal and now it is time to enjoy this extremely special meal.
So, everyone's just gathered waiting for the next meal session. Now, all the people are coming out. So, we wait for them to come out and then they'll open the door and we'll go in. And then everybody will go inside to eat at the same time. Like different shifts. Okay. Yeah. It's the lunch rush right now. Oh, and immediately the roti's come. Oh, you take with both hands, right? Thank you. First shout out.
Now, they're chanting. Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal. This is a chant for Sikhs that they do in the beginning of everything. Okay, so that signifies the beginning of the meal? Yes. So, you see the chant happening right now? Yeah. So, they're saying Sat Nam Waheguru. So, that's like remembering the God, you know. Okay. a true God and we all bow to him. This is such an incredible tradition and now the food is coming. Okay. Woah. Okay. The mixed lentils. And uh the bowl is actually for water to drink. What were you saying? What was the significance? So, everybody is sitting on the floor and everybody is sitting in a row, right?
Yes. So, basically there won't be any levels or something. Everyone has to sit in the same level and eat first to shun off all the caste based egos uh before they enter the sector. Okay. Yeah. Very cool. So, there's so much so much tradition and meaning behind every meal here and behind every tradition here. Okay, and the next dish is coming. That's the rice pudding. Okay, cool. and try some of this stew. Oh, and here comes the next dish.
This one? Okay, this one is the potatoes and chickpeas. Dig in for our first bite here. All those chickpeas are amazing. The sauciness. You taste the nutrition actually. All the water machine is incredible. Thank you. Langar is not only about serving people. It's about serving the humanity with service, equality, respect and compassion. Everyone is equal here. Everyone shares the same meal.
You sit on the floor and here irrespective of caste, color, gender, religion, race, anyone can come in. Anyone can walk in and share the meal. That's about langar. The most amazing things about this entire meal experience is that you are sitting amongst people you might have never you've definitely never met before from all religions, from all walks of life, from all economic levels and you're sitting together in this giant hall that seats 5,000 people all sharing the same meal that was cooked with compassion, that was prepared by a lot of volunteers in one of the most special places for a to enjoy a meal in the world.
Sewa, like selfless service. Nobody is out to serve themselves here. Everybody is taking care of others. Yeah. Okay, let's try the next dish, the lentils. It's delicious. You taste the simplicity the way it's been cooked in huge quantities and the ingredients have just been given so much respect. It's very tasty. A little bit of rice next. Oh, thank you. It's simple, it's basic but it's so good and so nourishing. And another thing is that you should also eat pretty fast out of a courtesy for the next 5,000 people that need to come here and eat as it's just non-stop all day long people in and out. 100,000
people eating here and sometimes double or triple that amount. You taste the ginger in that potato curry. Okay, and next up with the rice pudding for the dessert. You taste the milk in there. The sweetness and then it has this kind of like Yeah, like the milkiness of the rice and you still feel the grains of rice in there. A nice sweet finish to the meal. Yeah, I think everybody's moving out and they're going to start cleaning for the next group that's going to come in immediately following us. What an incredible experience.
Okay. That's how it should be. Okay, and then we just finish the water and then we'll move out. Okay. And everyone cleans up, you clean up your own tray and then actually you really have to see this part of the meal. The meal is not over yet. The dish washing room is another complete experience. Woah. As we approach to the dish washing you can already start to hear the clank of the dishes. Oh, and you give spoons here. Spoons go here. It's just a procession with the empty dishes on their way to the dish washing station. Then from here we will give it to some of the volunteers who are washing the dishes.
Thank you. You give your dishes uh to the volunteers and they pass it down the line and then they give it like a first rinse and then they actually toss it into this bucket. And then from there your dishes go into the washing room. Might be the world's busiest and biggest dish washing station on Earth. And there's just hundreds of volunteers who are washing the dishes, preparing the metal plates, the bowls, the spoons for the next round. And then it just keeps on going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, never stops, never ends. Food is available to anyone is who is hungry, to anyone who visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Yeah. Thank you. The laddu? Okay, thank you. Pretty busy here, but this is the tea hall. After you finish with your meal, and so now it is time for the tea. And also we have the dessert here, which is the laddu. It's the laddu, a North Indian dessert. Or Punjabi dessert. Mhm, sweet, a little bit crunchy, and maybe filled with ghee as well. This is such an amazing meal experience. Like speechless to say how special this meal and entire experience is. All ages, all people.
It's like a Really, people of all ages of everywhere is welcome here. And he is amazing oh And he is amazing. Thank you. Oh, yes. Thank you. Okay. Oh, they're so nice. They're such incredible people. This was a humbling, a learning experience of humility, of generosity, of kindness, and perhaps maybe the most important lesson, the equality, that everyone is welcome, that everyone can enjoy and be together enjoying a delicious meal. Amritsar is such an incredibly special place that no matter where you come from, you will be moved and you will feel the specialness, the
spirituality of this place. A huge thank you to my friend Gur Iqbal and Anubhav for setting this up and for everyone who helped us walking around and showing us the langar. Thank you for watching this video. Remember to give it a thumbs up. I'll have the next video here. We're eating lots more Punjabi food in Amritsar that you're not going to want to miss. So, thanks for watching. Go watch Go check out the next video and see you on the next video. Thanks for watching.
