There are countries in the world where each and every utensil in the kitchen has its own specific use. In the Western world a box and a pan can be used for any purpose, which is not the case in a country like Afghanistan. Here are the main utensils used in village kitchen. Each family owns the same ones.

This is a water cooler to store the water (the red an white one made of plastic keeps the water fresh during summer). The big steal cooler is used for bigger quantities of water. Potatoes, flour, onions and other vegetables are stocked into bags made of jute or plastic threads.

These kind of steel open basins are common in the whole country. The large size ones can be used for cleaning clothes by hand, or knead the bread dough. Each basin is kept for the use it is meant for. The smaller size ones can be used to stock food, to collect the dishes after washing them, or as the place where to keep small kitchen items. If you make holes in it, it becomes a strainer.

Below are the spices jars (usually filled with red pepper, black pepper, salt, turmeric, curry powder…).

There are different kinds of knives, those on the right side are for cutting meat and chicken, the others can be used for vegetables and fruits or have other functions. You can see a drainer, and a big spoon for mixing the curries.

Usually women cook on a fire place, each kitchen has a permanent hole for it. They cook curries, tea, boiling water and bread. The fire is lit with pieces of wood and cow dung.

Sometimes families can afford a gas bottle to cook, as you can see in the picture below. This is mainly used when there are guests or when the food must be prepared quickly.

The pan that goes over the gas bottle looks like the one used to cook rice, vegetables, meat and any kind of curries.

Here are the thermos used for tea:

This log is used to break wood or to cut meat.

The water reserve:

Thanks to Pascale Goldenberg from www.guldusi.com for the beautiful pictures
Text by Carole Sahebzadah