No non-Bengali can ever even begin to understand the sacrosanct place that food occupies, unless he/she comes to Bengal. Food and eating are not daily, routine, unthinking activities. In Bengal, food and eating are taken very seriously, and reverentially. Therein lies its quirkiness and its fascination…
Whoever thought that the very humble arrow-root bishkoot occupied pride of place on the kitchen shelf? Well here in Bengal, which is now my home, it does. Tea is not something to be gulped down – it is meant to be relished with the bishkoot. When one has chaa one pushes aside one’s work, and concentrates on the experience of dunking the bishkoot in it and savoring it. Then, after the first sip, one launches out on an adda. What can be more important than the political climate of Bengal? After mind and body have been nourished, one gets back to the mundane-ness of work…
Think meals. No, and I mean no meal is just a haphazard combination of foods. A great deal of thought goes into what has to be eaten and how. One has certain foods with each other, and there are clearly defined courses. One does not ever, ever have a standing lunch. As a good Bengali bhadralok once said, ‘it is only horses that eat standing up’!!
Think restaurants. There are eating-houses and eating-houses and eating-houses. It is not so much of how much you have in your pocket, as what kind of experience you are looking for. So, you have your dhabas – even if you can’t travel, you can at least have the dhaba experience. You would have surely eaten at a roadside dhaba if you were travelling.
If you are looking for fine dining in the old-fashioned way, think Mocambo, or Peter Cat, or any of the old Park Street restaurants. You are still treated with the same old-world grace and courtesy. There is no hurry here. You can take your time. If you are waiting outside for a table, no matter, you can always have a mini adda on the good fortune of having your regular eating place. You will not zoom off looking for an alternative. This is exactly where you want to be…Turbaned bearers attend on you so caringly that for that meal at least, you can fancy yourself a maharajah. From the aperitifs to the starters to the main meal, the whole experience is leisurely and complete.
Closer home, if you have had the privilege of having food from Ayojan, you would know what a great service that organization is doing to all of us whose spirit is willing but flesh is too weak to dish out meals every day. Sweet, caring, never-failing Kaku can always be relied on to get you well-planned meals on time.
Feeling prosperous and want the luxury treatment? The Oberoi Grand and the Taj are there just for this: to make you feel that that was your rightful place in the world; 5-star is where you absolutely belonged! And so from the bar to the restaurant of your choice, you feel, well, 5-star yourself…
What about the cave of Alibaba, better known as New Market? No visit can be complete without popping into Nizam’s or Badshah’s…
How can I leave out the pizzas, KFCs and McDs? Or for that matter, the new-age eating places that cater to the most exotic tastes on the planet? There are enough of those in all the malls…be it a strike or a bandh or a holiday, or a weekend, to get a table in a restaurant or the food court, is like getting to the top of K2. It starts with the excitement of eating out, then the anticipation, then the plunging disappointment, and the growling tummies, and finally, YAY!! There’s a place, and you grab it before someone else does!! Settle down, make yourself comfortable, and tuck in…aaahhhhh if there was heaven, it is here (to paraphrase Babur). And, you relish the whole experience – go through the menu, discus the food with the waiter, wait, eyes shining, and then really do justice to the food and the effort that has gone into making that food.
There is no cuisine in the world that can come anywhere near kosha mangsho, ilish maach (in all its culinary avatars), aloor dum, kabiraji cutlet, country captain, shukto, mochcha, or whathaveyou…each so different, and each so distinct and each so un-matchable…
A word about Bengali sweets without which no meal is ever complete. Taste mishit doi, shorbhaja, rajbhog, or kheerkadambo, and you taste divinity…
Breakfast on hing kachori and jalebi and your day was is as surely set as you would like it to be…
As for the eternal phuchkas, and jhaal muri? Or the unbeatable chaat? Why does one have to become a martyr to taste heaven. Just pop across to the maidan or wherever your fave phuchka wallah or chaat stall is and treat yourself to the works. There is always Aqua Ptychotis or pudinhara to fall back on. Ever wondered why such a magical potion like Aqua Ptychotis was created in Bengal?
Nowhere, but nowhere do you find the experience of eating so enjoyable, or so charming. And remember,
‘One never hurries a meal in Bengal’!