I've lived in Calcutta all my life, living there unaware of how much I would miss this city later on in life. For all of those who haven't been to Calcutta, believe me you have missed out on a lot. Let me write about a few things about the city that make me feel homesick and make Calcutta 'The City of Joy'. Since there are a large number of things that are there, I will dedicate a seperate post for each of these aspects of my favourite city in the whole world. This post I will dedicate to food.
Food - The thing I miss the most about Cal is the food. It however, is another fact that I will always miss my mum's food (for I feel she is the best cook in the whole world, and I could write a whole post on that). Here, I mean the multi-cusined fare available throughout the city. Now I know that by my looks I look like someone who woould hardly appreciate a culinary delicacy, but living in Cal with people who really appreciate and enjoy food, you tend to become that way. I will also not take anything away from my mother for cooking true delicacies and delights which has played a huge part in turning me into the fooodie I am. Coming back to food in Calcutta. You name the dish and you will find it there. Everything from the obvious Bengali cusine to Anglo-Indian, from Muslim to Continental, you will find them all. And what will most definitely leave you salivating are the rates and prices at which you find these. The best thing about Cal, after all these years under communist rule, it is the cheapest metropolitan in India. Food can be really cheap if you know the right places to go to.From the roadside vendors serving puchkkas and jhaal muri to Nizam's serving kati rolls. You'll get it all. And don't get me started about the dalpuris served with nihari, the sirka pyaaz served with the scrumptous parathas and the kebabs, muslim food at its best. And as we all know Bengal is known for its sweets, and believe me even if you're not a sweet-tooth, you'll turn into one after you've tasted the wonderful sandesh, roshgulla and the mishti doi found in various sweet shops all over the city. Lastly, every bengali's favourite....the fish! Now though I'm not a great fan of fishes, I do love the way it is prepared with bread crumbs and fried, known as the fish cutlet or even simply as a fish fry.
All these were a part of my daily life, and never did I ever realise that I would actually miss this aspect of Calcutta so very much.
Food - The thing I miss the most about Cal is the food. It however, is another fact that I will always miss my mum's food (for I feel she is the best cook in the whole world, and I could write a whole post on that). Here, I mean the multi-cusined fare available throughout the city. Now I know that by my looks I look like someone who woould hardly appreciate a culinary delicacy, but living in Cal with people who really appreciate and enjoy food, you tend to become that way. I will also not take anything away from my mother for cooking true delicacies and delights which has played a huge part in turning me into the fooodie I am. Coming back to food in Calcutta. You name the dish and you will find it there. Everything from the obvious Bengali cusine to Anglo-Indian, from Muslim to Continental, you will find them all. And what will most definitely leave you salivating are the rates and prices at which you find these. The best thing about Cal, after all these years under communist rule, it is the cheapest metropolitan in India. Food can be really cheap if you know the right places to go to.From the roadside vendors serving puchkkas and jhaal muri to Nizam's serving kati rolls. You'll get it all. And don't get me started about the dalpuris served with nihari, the sirka pyaaz served with the scrumptous parathas and the kebabs, muslim food at its best. And as we all know Bengal is known for its sweets, and believe me even if you're not a sweet-tooth, you'll turn into one after you've tasted the wonderful sandesh, roshgulla and the mishti doi found in various sweet shops all over the city. Lastly, every bengali's favourite....the fish! Now though I'm not a great fan of fishes, I do love the way it is prepared with bread crumbs and fried, known as the fish cutlet or even simply as a fish fry.
All these were a part of my daily life, and never did I ever realise that I would actually miss this aspect of Calcutta so very much.
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