There are various kinds of food festivals around the world. I am going to share some of the Bengali food festivals and culinary tourism. Ilish Utsav (Hilsa festival) is a famous festival of the woods of Sundarban,West Bengal. Generally it is held during the monsoon season, when female Hilsas lay eggs. The tradition is to eat on banana leaves and have water in a glass made of clay. They are several dishes of Hilsa in this carnival, like- Doi Ilish,Ilish Pulao,Ilish Bhuna,Ilish cutlets and many more the showstopper is vapa Ilish. Another “close to heart” dish is Hilsa fry,Hilsa’s egg fry and rice with the aromatic oil in which these were fried with a pinch of salt, some green chillies. Another very famous food festival of Bengal is Nabanna Utsav(Harvest Festival), held in the Bengali month of ‘Agrahayan’ which generally comes in November. In this festival people sing folk songs along with folk dance performance in the evening and eat dishes made with harvested new rice and seasonal wages. Payesh(rice boiled in milk with sugar,dry fruits) is the main dish of this festival. Another celebrated food carnival is Pithe-puli Utsav(festival of sweet dumplings). It is celebrated on’Poush Sankranti’ or ‘Makar Sankranti’. It generally falls in the months of December – January. There are many sweet dishes that are eaten in this festival, like- Chitoi Pithe,Chusi Pithe,Gokul Pithe and many more but Patisapta and Chandrapuli are the most famous ones.
Now let’s talk about culinary tourism. There are many things a culinary tourist faces that enriches their journey . Like- One can find a same dish, prepared differently in different places. For example- a famous Bengali dish is ‘Aloo Posto’ (a kind of potato curry). This dish is cooked with turmeric and green chillies in households, restaurants of Baangal people. This same dish is cooked without turmeric and with sugar in households, restaurants of Ghoti people. Baangals are those whose ancestors lived in Bangladesh in the pre independence years and Ghotis are those whose ancestors lived in India in the pre independence years. Together we are Bengalis & proud Indians. In some households, restaurants this dish is cooked without turmeric and with green chillies. Culinary tourist can find dishes which are very very similar but belongs from different communities. For example- ‘Patrani Machchi’ & ‘Vetki Paturi’ are very similar dishes. In Vetki Paturi, a boneless piece of vetki fish is coated with paste of mustard seeds, poppy seeds & then cooked in a banana leaf. It is a Bengali recipe.
In ‘Patrani Machchi’ the piece of fish is marinated with coriander paste & then cooked in a Banana leaf. One culinary tourist should know that they are can be mythological significance about the dish. For example- Golgappa(known as Fuchka,Jal batashe,Pani puri in different places) has some mythological significance. It is said during the exile of Pandavas, there was a very little ingredients in the kitchen. Kunti (mother of Pandavas) asked Draupadi (wife of Pandavas) to cook something with those. This is when Draupadi invented a dish which became modern days’ Golgappa by the time. One culinary tourist can came to know that some dish is created for a significant purpose apart from eating. For example- queen of Bagbazar asked sweet maker Nabinchandra to make some sweet dish with which she can make jokes of her son-in-laws. Then Nabinchandra created his famous dish ‘Jolvora Sondesh’. It was a sweetend milk cake which had some amount of liquid jaggery inside & was completely dry from outside.
Queen’s son-in-laws had a bite and the jaggery was all over their clothes. Queen laughed at them, they also laughed being surprised. One culinary tourist can come to know that the dish he/she having today was not even considered a dish years back. For example- Rumali Roti is a very famous dish but it wasn’t considered as a dish years back. As Mughal kings used to have several dishes in each meal, the previous dish would have an impact on the next dish’s taste and King’s hands can’t be washed so many times, so big cooked sheets of flour were placed between every two dishes. These sheets were used by king to wipe his hands and move on to the next dish. Later servants of him, used to have those or they were throwned away. That sheet of flour became modern days’ Rumali roti by the time. Sometime a culinary tourist can find the dish, he/she having, is a result of rejection. For example-Rabindranath Tagore once went to a restaurant to have fish cutlet but the outer layer was so thick for him that he couldn’t feel the taste of fish. So he rejected the dish by denying to eat.
The restaurant owner became worried and ask the chef to do something. The chef then kept the recipe same but just made the outer layer with egg white & served it to Rabindranath Tagore. This time he liked the taste and accepted it. As he is a poet (‘Kabi’ in Bengali) and he agreed (‘Raji’ in Bengali) to eat the dish, so, the dish was named as ‘Kabiraji’. Sometimes a culinary tourist can find that the dish he/she having, is a version of another dish. For example- Indian ‘Khichri’ (rice and lentils boiled together with spices) and English ‘Kedgree’ are dishes which are different versions of each other. Kedgree is almost same as khichri but it has chicken, fish etc non veg food items in it. Culinary tourist should always know that where the food belongs to, is not always the origin of the dish. For example- the dish ‘Chicken Country Captain’ has its origin related to an Indian tribe, named Mogh. Moghs created the recipe of ‘Chicken Country Captain’. Moghs used to live in coastal areas where Portuguese sailors encountered with them and carried the recipe to foreign countries. Actually it was created by Moghs.
Culinary tourism is a work of excitement, exploration as well as responsibility as it is not only about food but also about History & culture, heritage.
By: Tiyasa Roy Chaudhury
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