How the food habit of india and paakistan influenced Bangladesh

Journey through an Assimilated Taste: Food culture in Pre-Colonial Bengal

The culinary culture of pre-colonial Bengal contained many features distinguishing it from other parts of
the country. Conventionally, Bengali dishes are divided into four types, such as charbya (food which is to
be chewed, like rice, fish, etc.), choṣhya (food which is to be sucked, liquids like ambal, tak etc.) lehya
(food which is to be licked, like chatni) and peya (drinks, like milk) (Ray 1987, Mukhopadhyay 2007:29).
Even the sequence of eating foods is also prescribed in the sacred texts of Bengal, for example, in a
verse of Halayudha’s Brahmansarvasva. The Vishnupurana, compiled in northern India prescribed the
eating sequence as follows: meals should start with the sweet dish followed by salty dishes and end with
spicy and bitter dishes. On the contrary, Brihaddharma Purana, compiled within the territory of Bengal,
prescribed that boiled rice and ghee should be consumed first, followed by spinach and rest of the
vegetables, and the meal should end with milk with boiled rice (Ray 1987:5).

The gourmets of Bengal were so enthusiastic about eating that they not only prescribed the sequence of
eating but they left behind plentiful texts where different Bengali food items and dishes were
mentioned. A verse from the Prakritapaingala, composed approximately in the 13th century by
anonymous authors, depicts the interesting eating culture of that time. The verse says:

oggarabhatta rambhaapatta, gaika ghitta dugdhasajutta |

mainimaccha ṇalichagaccha, dijjai kanta kha punabanta ||

[‘Fortunate is the man whose wife serves him on a banana leaf some hot rice with ghee, mourala fish,
fried leaf of jute plant,[2] and some hot milk’ (Banerji 2005:23).

Shriharsha’s Naishadhacharita, a Sanskrit mahakavya composed in the 12th century, provides the
picture of the Bengali eating culture.[3] In this text, Nala and Damayanti are the protagonists. At their
wedding feast, different dishes are served, such as cooked vegetables, fish, mutton, deer meat, different
varieties of pitha (a kind of sweet dish), flavoured drinks and tambul or pan. Bhavadeva Bhatta, in a text
called Prayashcittaprakarana depicts some aspects of the Bengali cuisine. He describes how rice, fish,
meat[4], different milk products, shak (varieties of spinach)[5], vegetables[6], and fruits[7] dominated
Bengali eating culture at that time. According to him, there was no prohibition on the brahmins’
consumption of non-vegetarian food (Ray 1987:4–5). Jimutavahana, a 12th-century poet, in his
Kalaviveka shows that the hilsa fish and its oil (in which the fish is fried) were popular in Bengal (Ray
1987:4). In Brihaddharmapurana, it is said that the brahmins widely consumed white-scaled fishes such
as ruhi, punti and shakul etc. Sarvananda, in Tikasarvasva, shows the passion and love of east Bengalis
for shutkimachh (dried fish) (Ray 1987:4). Among the spices, he said that marich (pepper), pippali,
labanga (long or clove), jirak (jeera or cumin), ela, jafran (saffron), ada (adrak or ginger), karpur
(camphor), jaifal (nutmeg), hing (asafoetida) were popular in Bengali cooking (Ray 1987:5).

Sukumar Sen (1943) provides detailed information regarding popular Bengali food culture. For example
nādu (a kind of hard sweet, referred to in Sanskrit as ladduka), moya (a kind of soft sweet, in Sanskrit
called modaka), khaja (a crunchy soft sweet), khar (sweet made of sugar), fani (sugar-made sweet),
kadma (sweet made with sugar, which looks like a kadamba flower), pitha (in Sanskrit called pishtaka, a
sweet cake made with rice powder, raw-sugar, ghee and oil), dudshakar (a porridge made with rice,
sugar and milk), khirish (sweet prepared by kheer), shikharini (a dish prepared with ghee, curd, molasses
and ginger) were very popular at that time. Apart from these, hadus, vadus or olava (prepared with
roasted wheat, gram, barley flame), bharti (shikkabab, meat roasted on metalware) and orsia (chatni)
were very popular.

Mukundaram Chakravarti, in Chandimangal (16th century), mentioned multiple vegetarian and non-
vegetarian dishes. Among those, shukto (a bitter dish), prepared with neem leaf, seem, Indian pumpkin
(chalkumro) and brinjal, were significant. Apart from this, jute leaf fried in ghee, kusumbari (sundried
cake made of lentils, mainly biulir dal, generally fried in oil), prawn, chital fish fried in mustard oil and
hog-plum with palang (spinach), fig with prawn, chaltar jhol (kind of soup), puishak (bassela), fulbori
(this is also a designed item prepared with lentil, consumed after frying it with oil) and kachur tarkari
(preparation of an esculent edible root) were very popular at that time. Mukundaram Chakravarti
compiled his collection of verses in the region of Medinipur. So, it is fair to assume that Mukundaram
depicted in his verses the common food culture of that region.

In another episode of Mukumdaram’s Chandimangal, he provides detailed descriptions of Bengali dishes

such as fulbori, small fish chachchari, fried saral puti and prawn, khoi (kind of puffed rice), sugar and
curd made with buffalo milk, ripe chalta, amsi (dried green mango), kasundi (a sauce made with mustard
powder), karanjar tak (sour soup), dishes made with thod, fig and prawn, bora (a kind of chop) made
with prawn, burned fish with jamirer ros (lime juce), burned porcupine quill, mango with lentil, and
other things like kheer, pitha made with coconut and til, which were general ceremonial food items at
that time.

In a section of the Chandimangal, Mukundaram narrates a story where Phullara prepares some dishes
for one of the main protagonists, Kalketu. They include boiled broken rice, lentil boiled in water with
some spices and bottle gourd, burned native potato and ol (an Indian vegetable), kachu and amda, and
ambal (sour soup). In the end, the protagonist took haritaki (black myrobalan). Another version of this
text depicts other dishes in the same episode, including deer meat, burned mongoose and kachur
ghanto with amra.[8]
Other mangalkavyas such as Dharmamangal and Padmapuran also discussed the popular dishes in
medieval Bengal. In Manik Gangopadhyay’s Dharmamangal, mutton, spinaches, shukta, luchi (cake
made by frying wheat flour in oil) and nadu were mentioned as popular food items. Narayanadeva, in
Padmapuran, mentions a list of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes at Behula’s wedding. For example,
shukto prepared with boiled cane leaf, fried jute leaf, helencha (Indian spinach) fried in ghee, the upper
end of the bottle-gourd plant, mung dal (kind of pigeon-pea) and muger bodi, tilbada and tilkumda,
singari fried in ghee, mauya aloo, paltar shak and shuktoni with ginger savour, ambal made with ripe
banana, chital peti (a part of the fish’s body) fried with byasan, morich diye magur machher jhal (a kind
of fish preparation with pepper), fried koi fish with dust of cumin and mahasholer ambal (a sour
preparation of a fish), prawn raslash, mashkalai pulse with rohu fish’s head, shuktoni made with pabda
fish with ginger savour, boyal machher jhati, fried hilsa fish, shol fish, bhangan fish, ritha, putha, and
large prawn fry, mutton, deer meat, pigeon, and turtle were very popular at that time. Among sweet
dishes pitha made with kheer, chandrapuli, manohara, nalbora, chandrakanti, patpitha were very
popular at that time (Narayana Deva 1942:56–57).

Even in the late 18th century the eating culture remained mostly unchanged. In a late 18th-century text
titled Annadamangal authored by Bharatchandra Ray, a substantial description of medieval Bengali
dishes is given by the poet. There is an episode where the deity Annapurna prepares certain dishes.
Among them, 23 types of vegetarian dish are mentioned such as sarsadi, ghanta, different types of fried
spinach, thick soup of gram pulse, arahad, mug, mas, barbati, batul, and matar dal, bada, badi, banana,
radish, coconut fry, milk and dalna prepared with thod, shuktoni, jackfruit seeds with sugar, bottle-gourd
with til and pithali, brinjal, and preparations of pumpkin. Among the non-vegetarian dishes were katla,
fried chital fish, koi, magur and shol fish, boiled turtle egg (ganga fal) and the various meat preparations
like shik pora (meat burnt in a spit, later known as kabab). Apart from these dishes there were some
other unconventional dishes such as preparations with bamboo flower, and dalkachu and odkachu (Bose
2004:355–57).

The aforesaid texts were compiled between the 12th and 18th centuries. With the establishment of
Islamic rule in Bengal the eating culture gradually took a different shape. Many new food items, such as
watermelon, pomegranate, pulao, biriyani, kebab, kofta and kaliya were introduced by the Turks. There
is confusion still existing regarding onion and garlic: whether these items were imported from the
outside or these were indigenous to India. But it is clear that the use of these items in the daily cooking
was introduced after the coming of Islam. However, the process of transformation in taste did not occur
in a very linear way, especially in a society like Bengal, where inhaling the smell of prohibited food could
lead to degradation in caste status or expulsion from the religious community. Therefore this process
took a very slow path to unfold. According to Ghulam Murshid, it was the lower classes who initially
adopted the new food culture brought by Islamic rulers. After that, through the high class converts to
Islam, this culture spread among other classes of Bengal (Murshid 2008:491–92).

Taste in Transition: Food Culture During the Colonial Era

From the late 18th century, with the expansion of British paramountcy in Bengal, a transformation in the
eating culture began, which reached its culmination during the early 20th century. That is why a broad
idea of the traditional food can help us to identify the complex process of transformation within the
Bengali culinary culture during the 19th century.

From the late 15th century European ships from various countries began to touch the shores of India in
order to establish mercantile relations with Indians. The art of cartography and the voyages undertaken
by the Iberians during the 15th century opened up new sea routes from the west to different corners of
the globe. The Portuguese were the first to set their foot on the Indian subcontinent, gradually followed
by the Dutch, French, Danes and the British. On the other hand, America and different parts of Africa
also became colonies of these European powers, from where colonizers extracted various kinds of
commodities. For instance, the bullion exported from the Americas was used to pay for the spice carried
away from the east. Apart from these precious items, the Portuguese, who were the first Europeans to
arrive, also brought along with them some new vegetables and food items such as potato, chili pepper,
okra, tomato, cauliflower, cabbage, bread, cheese, jelly and biscuits (Habib 2014:54–60, Sen 1997). But
notably, those new vegetables and food items were not so popular[9] until the British became the
administrators of Bengal and promoted those things for mass consumption (Ray 2009).

Collin Taylor Sen in an article entitled 'The Portuguese Influence on Bengali Cuisine' provides a table
where she mentioned the names of different fruits and vegetables brought by the Portuguese and
usages of these items in Bengali daily life.

2nd link

Bangladeshi food is generally spicy like Indian food, and chilli peppers are used in almost every dish, so
you should expect to feel a degree of heat with almost every dish. The marsala spice mix that is used in
India to flavor food is also used in Bangladesh, but the mix is different.

Food in Bangladesh is cooked in curry gravies made with onions, garlic and, often times, with small dried
fish similar to what is commonly used in Myanmar or Thailand to flavor food.

As per cooking techniques, frying is widely used to cook foods, as ovens do not exist in most of
Bangladesh rural areas and boiling is less common. Food is cooked in clay, earthen or metal pots over a
pit fire or charcoal. Banana leaves are also used to cook food.
Unlike in India, Bangladeshi food is not always fried in ghee but also in mustard or other vegetable oils.

As with all Muslim countries, Bangladeshis eat with their right hand and do not use the left as it is
considered impure. This is also common in India and required a degree of skill.

Unlike other countries where modern takes of food are prevalent, almost all the food in Bangladesh is
still traditional. Despite every household having its own recipes for the famous Bangladeshi recipes, the
foundations remain the same.

Even in the capital city of Dhaka, fusion or fine dining Bangladeshi restaurants are practically nonexistent
so you are likely to get the real deal no matter where you eat. Of course, street snacks are best enjoyed
from street vendors, even though I would not recommend the inexperienced belly to take the risk.

Pitha – rice cakes

Pitha are rice cakes that are made sweet or savory and with several types of rice and then soaked in milk
and topped with sugar, date palm syrup, jaggery or molasses. The rice cakes can be steamed, fried or in
other ways.

It is a typical Bangladeshi food eaten at the beginning of winter when the rice harvest ends and they are
found across the country.

Bortha – mashed vegetables and fish

This is the most common Bangladeshi food of all. Bortha refers to any vegetable that has been cooked
and served mashed. This can be anything and everything, from one vegetable only to several, from spicy
to mild, from leaves to stems.

Biryani

The dish is usually made with meat, goat and chicken are very popular but also prawns or beef are used
(vegetarian options are common in India), cooked in mustard oil, and spiced with saffron, cumin, cloves,
bay leaves, chilli powder, onions and other spices which give it the traditional yellow strokes and flavor.

Biryani is not just meat and rice cooked together, but the result of a long and slow cooking process in
specific dum pots and the results is a layered dish with two parts of rice and one of protein in the
middle.
The origin of the word and the food are unclear and lots of versions explain how it arrived in India but
the most likely one talks about the trade routes between Persia and Bengal which brought this way of
cooking and recipe to India and from there to Bangladesh via the Mughal Empire.

Biryani is famous in several parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, each with its own mix of spices, type
of protein and cooking method. In India, one of the most famous biryanis comes from Hyderabad.

Pani puri is an Indian snack that is also eaten in Bangladesh and is known by different names depending
on the part of the world you eat it at. While in Dhaka and the Bengal Bay it is known as Phuchka,
Chittagong calls it Fucsa and Indians refer to it as pani puri.

Pani puris are small, crispy, puffed breads that are broken at the top and filled with usually potatoes,
maybe some vegetables, spiced tangy water and then topped with spicy sauce. They are usually eaten in
the street, standing by the stall owner who makes them, and popped in the mouth at once before they
become soggy.

Pani puri are the most famous Indian food and they are one of the best street snacks, even if their
origins are unclear. Because they are eaten on the spot and can’t be taken away, you will keep on
getting more from the stall owner until you say enough, each prepared to be eaten right now.

https://www.onceinalifetimejourney.com/reviews/food/bangladeshi-food-traditional-dishes/

https://beautifulbengal.com/bengali-recipies.html

Link
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-nutrition/s18-07-diets-around-the-
world.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism

Korean

https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=144620

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/south-korea/articles/14-mouth-watering-south-korean-foods-to-try/

halal

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15378020.2020.1768040
https://www.intracen.org/uploadedFiles/intracenorg/Content/Publications/Halal_Goes_Global-
web(1).pdf