The langar community meal, the open kitchen that Nanak instituted: everyone, regardless of rank or caste, sits in rows on the floor (pangat) and receives the same simple vegetarian food, served from a single pot. No successive courses: everything is placed together on a leaf or a copper plate — a wheat flatbread, a ladle of lentils, a handful of green vegetables, a little sweet to finish. Eating becomes an act of equality.

Nanak's cooking boils down to three gestures: the wheat flatbread cooked on the tava (curved iron griddle), a touch of ghee (clarified butter) that binds and nourishes, and the principle of *vand chakko* — sharing before eating. No aggressive spices (chili does not yet exist in India), but ginger, turmeric, cumin, and long pepper to warm without overpowering.