Throughout A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, there are numerous small mentions of how food plays a role in community and hospitality in Afghani culture, primarily focusing on Kabul. From large gatherings to small happenstance meetings, food is a rather important element in many social interactions. I found the communal tandoor particularly fascinating for how, at first glance, its purpose is entirely utilitarian, but it fosters its own community around it due to how many women use it near daily.
This sense of community is something shown fairly clearly in the book. The tandoor is a gathering place for many of the women in Mariam’s neighborhood, giving them an oft-recurring opportunity to socialize with each other. The women around her “walked in groups of three or four … Mariam could hear their high-pitched chatter, their spiraling laughs” (Hosseini 66). Beyond being a useful group tool, it is a space for unity, allowing friendships to grow between the women of Kabul.
Mariam was practically robbed of this opportunity. It’s understandable that her first visit to the tandoor would be a stressful one - she was alone in an unfamiliar city, surrounded by people and sounds she did not recognize. The women at the tandoor turning their gaze to her and bombarding her with questions was a bit of a last straw. “She was hyperventilating. Her pulse fluttered, her eyes darted from one face to another” (Hosseini 68). This fear kept her from joining the other women in their ritual of socialization while cooking, and Rasheed discouraged her from forming bonds with anyone besides him in Kabul, leaving her unable to take part in this pillar of the community.
The community tandoor is a fascinating tool for not only cooking, but for forming bonds and friendships. It’s unfortunate that Rasheed was the type of man to take his wives and shelter them from the majority of contact with the world - even access to something as seemingly simple as the communal tandoor could have allowed them a much-needed release from the life they lived isolated with him.