Why Kolkata’s food is so ‘fatafati’
- Zeeshan Javed
- TIMESOFINDIA.COM Jan 21, 2023, 22:29 IST IST
When Eater magazine put Kolkata as one of the top food destinations of 2023, residents of other metros probably went, ‘aw, that’s too maach’. But ask anyone who has sampled the city’s culinary delights and they will tell you there’s much more to Kolkata than maach, mishti and momos.
One reason for this is the melange of influences. Bengalis alone did not make the food in Kolkata what it is, although listening to them talking about it may give that impression. The Europeans left their meat stews; the Chinese came and cooked up a storm; and the ousted nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, brought his biryani. In an interview some years ago, his granddaughter told TOI about how his enterprising chefs added aloo to the biryani to deal with the shortage of meat (biryani purists shouldn’t diss it till they try it!). Then there were the refugees from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, who gave the Bengali fish curry a robust chilli-mustard kick. The food pot of Kolkata was heated by many other hands as well — Armenians, Baghdadi Jews, Gujaratis, Marwaris, Punjabis, Sindhis, Oriyas, Tamils and, of course, the city’s Bengali residents. Falling in love with the city means falling in love with the ever-changing landscape of Calcutta’s cuisine.
One reason for this is the melange of influences. Bengalis alone did not make the food in Kolkata what it is, although listening to them talking about it may give that impression. The Europeans left their meat stews; the Chinese came and cooked up a storm; and the ousted nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, brought his biryani. In an interview some years ago, his granddaughter told TOI about how his enterprising chefs added aloo to the biryani to deal with the shortage of meat (biryani purists shouldn’t diss it till they try it!). Then there were the refugees from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, who gave the Bengali fish curry a robust chilli-mustard kick. The food pot of Kolkata was heated by many other hands as well — Armenians, Baghdadi Jews, Gujaratis, Marwaris, Punjabis, Sindhis, Oriyas, Tamils and, of course, the city’s Bengali residents. Falling in love with the city means falling in love with the ever-changing landscape of Calcutta’s cuisine.
