President Droupadi Murmu on Monday hosted Swiss counterpart Guy Parmelin to a lavish spread of Kashmiri and Ladakhi culinary heritage.The Presidential banquet in honour of the visiting dignitary and his wife Caroline Parmelin drew inspiration from the culinary traditions of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, a land of snow-crowned peaks and verdant valleys.”Like the Swiss Alps, the Himalayan ranges have fostered a cuisine of resourcefulness, refinement, and respect for seasonal produce. Each course of the menu today celebrates the distinctive ingredients of the region,” said the introduction to the banquet spread.Among ingredients used to prepare the menu were the famed sea buckthorn, apricots, wild nettle, yak cheese and barley from the high plateaus of Ladakh and saffron, morels, lotus stem and fragrant spices from the kitchens of Kashmir.The evening began with a nourishing Ladakhi wild nettle soup garnished with roasted millet pearls followed by a salad, showcasing the region’s cheese-making traditions: Labo and Chhurpi from Ladakh and Kalari from Jammu.The famed Kashmiri haakh consisting of seasonal collard greens stewed with mustard oil and asafoetida; Dum Aloo (potatoes cooked with yoghurt, dried ginger, fennel, and other aromatic spices); Tsok Wangun (baby eggplant in a tangy sauce flavoured with cloves, ginger and fennel powder) and Mujj Chatin (radish chutney) dotted the main course.In her speech, President Murmu stressed that India and Switzerland enjoyed warm and cordial relations based on the shared values of democracy and the rule of law.The President also noted that following the implementation of the historic India-European Free Trade Association Trade and Partnership Agreement, there were even greater opportunities for expanding bilateral trade and investment.