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Life and Food in Bengal
You can find this and much more in this interesting book on life and food in Bengal. The evocative account of Bengali food preparations and eating habits that Banerji has writ is partly a memoir and partly a social history book laid out on the platter of recipes. Fish, dal and rice form the basis of much she has to say and you get a lot of information on the use of vegetables and spices. Lest the Marathas complain that their ancestors were unfairly rejected by the snooty Bengalis for their ignorance about spices, this book also tells us of the numerous ways in which the food-loving Bengalis created hierarchies amongst themselves on the basis of who eats what, how and when. The people from the west looked down upon the people from the east because they added far too many hot spices in their fish curries. The easterners looked down upon their western cousins for being ignorant about the numerous ways to cook fish and the use of different kinds of rice. "How can you not tell the difference in the taste of rice on the basis of the length of the grain?" one can almost hear them wonder. Of course, neither of them looked up to anyone else for either guidance on better cooking, or the use of ingredients or on how to lay food for serving. Even the humble khichari, the kedgeree the East Indian traders learnt to love, was far more than merely a mixture of rice, lentils and some spices boiled together. The rice and dal had to be washed separately and then left to drain for 15 minutes. The hot water to which these were then added had to have an appropriate mixture of spices in it. Boiling it with the cover or without it could make all the difference between a simple khichari and a khichari fit for a king. One also had to keep track of the seasons so as to eat only the appropriate food. Cold milk was not to be consumed ever, even if it was the only way of eating crispy cornflakes. Hot milk could be made tastier with some mango juice. It also had the advantage of preventing snakebites, if consumed during the three days of Ambubachi, early days of the monsoon. Banerji follows the seasons in her descriptions of food preparations. Every season and the festivals associated with it called for a different kind of food. Each is described with great feeling for atmosphere. She succeeds in evoking the changing smells of the seasons, as the aromas emanating from the kitchens of Bengal changed. The descriptions would help you get a taste of Bengali cooking. |
CLASH of civilisations
need not always be among those who believe in a different book.
Sometimes, it can also be with those who eat their dal without phoron.
Something of this sort happened when the Marathas invaded Bengal in the
18th century. Unaware of the complicated spices, phoron,
which the Bengalis used regularly, the Marathas ate a simple and, to the
Bengali mind, uncouth daal. That effectively ensured that the Bengalis
would not fraternise with the Marathas, ever.