In the Timurid Persian tradition, the meal is laid out on a cloth (sofre) spread on the floor, around which guests sit cross-legged. At the khanqah (Sufi convent), the sofre is frugal and communal: a thick soup (ash) or rice (polo) forms the heart of the meal, accompanied by bread (nan), yogurt, fresh herbs (sabzi), and dried fruits. Sweets (shirini) like halva are reserved for dhikr ceremonies or funerary offerings. Rosewater-scented drinks (sharbat) are served separately, often to welcome a guest. There is no starter or dessert in the Western sense—everything is set out together, and each person helps themselves according to appetite and spiritual station.

Timurid Khorasan was one of the world's great saffron-growing regions, with Herat as its commercial center. Rosewater (golab), distilled in the city's workshops, perfumed both dishes and illuminated manuscripts. These two ingredients—one golden, one translucent—embody the duality of Jami's poetry: visible splendor and invisible fragrance.