My Tryst with Bengali Food.

During my college days at Heriot Watt University, I along with a few of my friends used to stay in a shared accommodation in Edinburg.  I was quite homesick of the fact that it would be the first time that I would be away from home. But, to make up for this depression I decided to treat myself to some great Bengali food. It was one of the weekdays and also my day off from work and I along with my friends decided to discover Bengali food in Mumbai.  We hired a taxi and in those days that was a luxury, so we decided to share the fare. And, then began my search for Bengali food, which at the end of it died down because I was aghast, shocked and yet again depressed to find out that there was just not one single food joint that served Bengali food. 

 It was October of 2006 and my first Durga Puja in UK. I had decided that I would for sure not have the mess food and the hard truth was that I did not have so much money to go and dine in a restaurant. It was a Sunday and I was yet again into one of those semi depressed moods, when one of my room mates, Sunil pushed me to pally with him out for a brunch followed with some drinks. As we were entering the pub, a lady was handing over pamphlets to a nearby food festival.  I noticed it said “Authentic Indian Cuisines” and I grabbed my friend who was just about to take a bite of his steak and next we found ourselves standing in a ground with a never-ending line of stalls. I thought to myself how am I going to discover this stall until I sensed a whiff of fish curry that some other guests were having. I just asked them directions to the stall they got it from and finally we arrived.

There was a British local cooking Bengali Fish and Chicken Curry. This was it I told to myself that I need to get this person to deliver us food, but how? I struck up a conversation with the chef and we both came to know that we had a common journalist friend. So, with much deliberation, I requested this friend of mine to persuade the chef to provide us a tiffin service. But, the Chef outrightly refused.  Next was I figured out that it was his birthday and reached his house with a bottle of wine, which of course he could not refuse. And the next was I had cooked some Malpua (an authentic Bengali sweet made with jaggery) to bribe him with. And then placed my proposal that we would provide him with the fish and that too cut in pieces, while all he had to do was to cook it for us!  Although it was not the best but at the end of it for me it was soul food.

 My story now moves into 2010. It was raining heavily in London and I was working and also pursuing my higher studies at Kingston University. On usual Sunday afternoons or evenings, we would have these small pot meals in our house which had twelve occupants and luckily all of them were from different countries.  It would be nothing elaborate but just a typical confluence of different meals. And, then my friends just kept calling me and asking me when would they next crash to have this meal again! In fact, one of my very close friends and a very renowned person in the British Theatre called me to say that it’s time that I start this hobby of mine on a commercial front.

For the moment I had shrugged off the idea since it was just not one fine morning you could start off. There was a lot of homework to be done and the first being naming the baby! My love for Bengali food has even been a part of all my travelogues. My wife and I had not travelled out for a very long time and then in the March of 2017 we decided to go to Bangkok for a few days. While the first three days I enjoyed the food culture of the Thai’s starting from Sushis, Yakitoris and Noodles, I slowly started to get withdrawal syndromes towards accessing Bengali food. It was afternoon and we had an early breakfast hence our hunger levels had shot up. I was bent upon finding a Bengali restaurant and I asked our driver cum local guide to help us. After a lot of struggle, he mentioned a place but the only way to go was on foot. After a while, both my wife and I were literally panting to reach to the place, in fact I even sprained my ankle. Although, my wife had got frustrated and irritated with this uncalled adventure of mine, I finally managed to push myself and her spirits to get to a place called, Amaar Bangla Kitchen… Yes! you heard me right, we finally found a place in the heart of a bustling neighbourhood which truly turned out to be place worth its name!

 My work included travelling abroad for shoots, This was such an incident where I had to travel to Wales with a client and family friend as they were shooting for a car.  I had to be there for almost a week.  So, while for the first three days I somehow managed experimenting with Welsh food (and the experience, well the less I say would be better). It was a Saturday afternoon and I proposed to have some Indian food, not pronouncing my dying wish to pounce on Bengali food! We started our journey and yet again I was experiencing my younger days in Dubai as there was no Indian food, forget about Bengali food in miles!

I had almost given up hope and I could well sense the irritation of my colleagues as their hunger pangs were leaping off limits. We were near a sweet shop and I enquired if there were any Indian restaurants nearby when one of the customers in the shop mentioned to check in of the by lanes. Unfortunately, we had to leave the car at a distant and walk and as soon as we entered the lane the first restaurant that was there said Bengal Village, Words will fall less to express the immense glee that showed on my face. Not only did I order almost everything they had on their menu but also took take away packets. Even my client and our local friend was overwhelmed with the food they had!

It was summer in Amsterdam and I along with my friends decided to holiday. Now, the problem with one of my friends is that he cannot stay without nothing but only Bangla food. But, its Amsterdam after all, I said to myself and I was sure that it would not be so bad as my previous experiences. And, it was dinner time as we were scanning places, I was surprised that there were a number of Bengali restaurants including a big community in Amsterdam that called itself ‘Hoichoi’.      

At the end of it while every country would laud about their own cuisine, but for me there is no better love than the love for Bengali food. And as the saying goes, “Shob khabar ek baar, kintu Bangali khabar… Baar Baar” Because, for Bangla food, every Bengali will go to limits that is beyond any one’s imagination!