Bengali food has been influenced by a long history including rule by various groups like the Aryans, Muslims, and British. Fish, rice, lentils, mustard oil, and coconut are staple ingredients of traditional Bengali cuisine. Meals typically include dishes like shukto (mixed vegetables), dal (lentils), and fish along with rice. Signature dishes include shukto, cholar dal, luchi, and payesh. Fish is especially important in Bengali cuisine and meals are often not considered complete without it. Meals are traditionally eaten with the hands and served on plantain or sal leaves.

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HISTORY
 Bengali food has inherited a large number of influences, both
foreign and South Asian, arising from a turbulent history and
strong trade links with many parts of the world.
 Originally inhabited by Dravidians and other ethnic groups, and
later further settled by the Aryans during the Gupta era,
Bengal fell under the sway of various Muslim rulers from the
early thirteenth century onwards, and was then ruled by the
British for two centuries (1757-1947).
 It also saw a fair share of immigrants from various parts of the
world - most prominently Jews, Chinese and Afghans who
settled down in their own distinct communities in and around
Kolkata.

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 Bengal (before its partition into eastern and western parts) has been
ruled by Muslim rules since the Delhi Sultanate in early 12th century.
However, for over five hundred years the center of Muslim rule in
Bengal was centered in Dhaka.
 Trade routes going from Delhi to Dhaka travered the entire width of
today's West Bengal but seems to have little influence beyond that.
West Bengal came under Muslim influence only when Murshid Quli
Khan became the governor of Bengal and moved the capital from
Dhaka to the newly founded city of Murshidabad in the late 17th
century.

4.  From the culinary point of view, a key influence to the food came
much later, when Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Avadh was
exiled to Metia Bruz, in the outskirts of Kolkata. He is said to have
brought with him hundreds of cooks and masalchis (spice mixers)
who, on his death, dissipated into the population, starting
restaurants and food carts all over Bengal.
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THE FOOD
 Bengali food today has some broad (though not so distinct)
variations - Traditional, Mughal, Anglo-Indian and Chinese.
 Fish is the dominant kind of meat, cultivated in ponds and fished
with nets in the fresh-water rivers of the Ganges delta. More than
forty types of mostly freshwater fish are common, including carp
varieties like rui (rohu), katla, magur (catfish), chingŗi (prawn or
shrimp), as well as shuţki (small dried sea fish).

6.  Salt water fish (not sea fish though) Ilish (hilsa ilisha) is very
popular among Bengalis, can be called an icon of Bengali
cuisine. Almost every part of the fish (except fins and innards) is
eaten; the head and other parts are usually used to flavor
curries.
 Khashi (referred to as mutton in Indian English, the meat of
sterilized goats) is the most popular red meat.
 Other characteristic ingredients of traditional Bengali food
include rice, moshur đal (red lentils), mug đal (mung beans),
shorsher tel mustard oil, mustard paste, posto (poppyseed) and
narkel (ripe coconut).
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 Bengal is also the land of am (mangoes), which are used extensively—
ripe, unripe, or in pickles. Ilish machh (hilsa fish), which migrates
upstream to breed is a delicacy; the varied salt content at different
stages of the journey is of particular interest to the connoisseur, as is
the river from which the fish comes - fish from the river Pôdda (Padma
or Lower Ganges) in Bangladesh, for example, is traditionally
considered the best.
 To some part of the community, particularly from West Bengal,
Gangatic Ilish is considered as the best variety.
 The pãch phoron spice mixture is very commonly used for vegetables.
A touch of gôrom môshla or hot spices (elachi cardamom, darchini
cinnamon, lông clove, tej pata bay leaves, and peppercorn) is often
used to enliven food.

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Another characteristic of Bengali food is the use of a
unique cutting instrument, the bothi. (This
instrument is also used in Maharashtra, where it is
known as vili and in Andhra Pradesh, known as
kathi peeta (kathi = knife and peeta = platform) ).
It is a long curved blade on a platform held down by
foot; both hands are used to hold whatever is
being cut and move it against the blade.
The method gives excellent control over the cutting
process, and can be used to cut anything from tiny
shrimp to large pumpkins.

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 The Mughal influence is most distinct in preparations
involving meat especially mutton.
 However, even chicken and other meats became more
prevalent.
 The influence was also seen in desserts; traditional
desserts were based on rice pastes and jaggery but under
the Mughal influence moved towards significantly
increased use of milk, cream and sugar along with
expensive spices such as cardamom and saffron.

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THE EATING HABIT
 At home, Bengalis typically eat without the use of dining utensils; kaţa
(forks), chamoch (spoons), and chhuri (knives) are used in the
preparation of food, but will almost certainly not be used to eat one's
own food, except in some urban areas.
 Most Bengalis eat with their right hand, mashing small portions of
meat and vegetable dishes with rice and in some cases, lentils. In rural
areas,
 Bengalis traditionally eat on the ground with a large banana or
plantain leaf serving as the plate or plates made from sal leaves sown
together and dried.
 Meals were usually served course by course to the diners by the
youngest housewives, but increasing influence of nuclear families and
urbanization has replaced this.
 It is now common to place everything on platters in the centre of the
table, and each diner serves him/herself. Ceremonial occasions such as
weddings used to have elaborate serving rituals, but professional
catering and buffet-style dining is now commonplace.

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TYPICAL BENGALI MEAL

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 Alu-Potoler Dalna (Potato Parwal gravy), Maacher Sorse Jhol (Fish
in Mustard gravy), Ghee Bhat (sweetish Bengali rice Pulao), Porota
(Flatbread), Lankar Achar (Green chillies pickle)and Patishapta
(sweet flour crepe with sweet aromatic coconut filling and topped
with Saffron cream).

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 Clockwise from the spoon ;) Fish, Dal, Fried
Aubergines, Fried Potatoes, Luchi, Shaag, Paayash &
of course Rice. That's all the food tht's made for the
infant to mark the occasion of tasting food for the
very first time in his life.

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THE MEAL
 A Bengali day begins with big bowl containing MOORI
( puffed rice), thick creamy milk and healthy dollops
of freshly mashed fruits such as sweet, ripe mangoes
or musky jack fruit.
 A lunch time favorite is shukto. It starts the meal
consists of diced and fried vegetables, some bitter
gourds, some pungent like white radish, some starch
like potatoes, some stiff like besan and other soft
such as stem and leaves.
 Some rice and dhal is always accompanied by fried
bhajjis made out of fish and vegetables.

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SALIENT FEATURES
 Bengalis are one of the greatest food lovers
in the Indian continent.
 Their passion for fish (river fish especially) is
so that no meal is complete without it.
 Varieties of fishes are available in the ganges
such as the Perch, Mullet, Carp, Prawn,
Crayfish and Lobster which are loved by
everyone.

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 Bengalis staple food is rice. Though coconut and its oil is
available, pure golden mustard oil is mostly used as a cooking
medium.
 Like others in India, Bengalis eat everything with their fingers.
 Vegetables especially the bitter ones are the first course
followed by dhal, perhaps accompanied by fritters or fries of fish
or vegetables.
 Meat will always follow fish and chutneys and ambals will
provide a refreshing touch. Finally comes the dessert.

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SIGNATURE DISHES
 SHUKTO: Mixed vegetable
preparation cooked in mustard
paste with deep fried gram flour
dumplings in it.
 CHOLAR DHAL: A lentil
preparation of split bengal gram,
tempered with cumin, ginger,
garlic, chilli, coconut and
powdered masalas.

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 LUCHI: Similar to poori made of
refined flour and slightly
smaller.
 PAYESH: A dessert made of rice
cooked in milk.
 SHINGARA: Another name for
samosa.

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 CHAR CHARI: A mixed vegetable
preparation cooked in mustard oil
with mustard paste, with deep
fried gram flour dumplings,
tempered with pancha poran
masala.
 PATHAR JHOL (spiced mutton
stew): Young goat meat cooked
with sliced onions, cumins,
coriander and pepper paste in
mustard oil with few slits of green
chillies.
 BEGUM BHAJA: Roundels of brinjal
deep fried after applying salt and
turmeric.

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 Dalna: Mixed vegetables or eggs, cooked in medium thick
gravy seasoned with ground spices, especially garom
mashla and a touch of ghee.
 Jhal: Literally, 'hot'. A great favorite in West Bengali
households, this is made with fish or shrimp or crab, first
lightly fried and then cooked in a light sauce of ground red
chilli or ground mustard and a flavoring of pãch-phoron or
kala jira. Being dryish it is often eaten with a little bit of
dal pored over the rice.

22.  Jhol: A light fish or vegetable stew seasoned with
ground spices like ginger, cumin, coriander, chili, and
turmeric with pieces of fish and longitudinal slices of
vegetables floating in it. The gravy is thin yet
extremely flavourful. Whole green chillies are usually
added at the end and green coriander leaves are
used to season for extra taste. This term is also used
to refer to any type of stew in meat, fish or vegetable
dishes.
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 RASAGULLAS: Chenna made
into small balls dipped in boiling
syrup.
 SANDESH: Chenna with sugar
syrup and cooked over low
flame until the moisture
evaporates and then moulded.

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MACHER JHOL

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28. A close-up of the Bengali bonti
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