تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.11: ذكر ترتيب الطعام العام

As for the public meal, it is brought from the kitchen with the naqībs going before it crying, "In the name of God!", and the chief of the naqībs ahead of them holding a gold mace, and his deputy with him holding a silver mace. When they enter through the fourth gate and those in the mashwar hear their voices, they all rise to their feet, and no one remains seated except the Sultan alone. When the food has been set on the ground, the naqībs form a line and their amīr stands in front of them and speaks words in which he praises the Sultan and extols him; then he makes obeisance, and the naqībs make obeisance as he does, and everyone in the mashwar, great and small, makes obeisance.

Their custom is that whoever hears the speech of the chief of the naqībs at that moment stops if he is walking, and keeps his place if he is standing, and no one moves or stirs from his position until that speech is finished. Then his deputy also speaks words of the same kind and makes obeisance, and the naqībs and all the people make obeisance a second time, and then they sit down. The secretaries of the gate write a note informing [the Sultan] that the food has arrived, even though the Sultan already knows of its arrival, and the note is given to a boy from among the sons of the maliks who is charged with this, and he brings it to the Sultan. When he has read it, he appoints whomever he wishes of the great amīrs to arrange the people and serve them their food.

Their food consists of thin bread, roast meat, round loaves with edges filled with sweetmeat, rice, chickens, and samosas.

We have already mentioned this and explained its arrangement. Their custom is that at the head of the banquet sit the qāḍīs, the preachers, the jurists, the sharīfs and the shaykhs, then the Sultan's relatives, then the great amīrs, then the rest of the people. No one sits except in the place assigned to him, so there is no crowding among them at all. When they have sat down, the sharbdārs come — they are the cupbearers — holding vessels of gold, silver, copper and glass filled with sugar dissolved in water, and they drink this before the meal. When they have drunk, the chamberlains say, "In the name of God!", and then they begin to eat. Before each person is placed some of everything the banquet contains, and he eats from it alone; no one eats with another from the same dish. When they have finished eating, they bring beer in pewter jugs, and when they have taken it the chamberlains say, "In the name of God!" Then trays of betel and areca nut are brought, and each person is given a handful of crushed areca nut and fifteen betel leaves gathered together and tied with red silk thread. When the people have taken the betel, the chamberlains say, "In the name of God!", and they all rise, and the amīr appointed to serve the meal makes obeisance,

and they make obeisance as he does, and then they depart. They eat twice a day, once before noon and once after the afternoon prayer.