A culinary tour de force

A history of Calcutta through its food recreates the city's rich multicultural heritage

Mohona Kanjilal is a passionate raconteur of Kolkata’s culinary history, blending facts with feelings to invoke a cityscape that is rich in aromas, images, sounds and flavours. She was born in Calcutta, renamed Kolkata in 2001, spent her college years and began her writing career there. The city has been her beloved home for many years, so her book A Taste of Time: A Food History of Calcutta (2021) is aptly dedicated “to those who love the City of Joy”.

How did Calcutta end up becoming the capital of British India? What made Armenians, Parsis, Jews, Marwaris, Punjabis, Sindhis, Oriyas, Biharis and the Chinese migrate to Calcutta? How did this cultural diversity transform the culinary landscape of the city? Kanjilal answers these questions in deliciously written prose, which will make you wonder how exciting history textbooks in school could have been if the writers chose to incorporate details about the food that kings, queens, ministers, freedom fighters and revolutionaries ate. I have used the older name for the city because it is essentially the pre-Kolkata culinary heritage to which Kanjilal refers.

Many non-Calcuttans might not know, for instance, that Nawab Wajid Ali Shah once lived in the Metiabruz neighbourhood of the city. According to tales told by his descendants, his master chefs were given “a free hand to experiment in the royal kitchen”. One day, when they added potatoes to the rice and meat, he was quite pleased with the taste and ordered them to make potatoes a regular feature. This is one of the origin stories behind Calcutta’s famous alu biryani.

Kanjilal also writes affectionately about the Chinese Kali Temple in New Chinatown, located in Tangra in East Kolkata. The bhog or prasad served at this temple — built from donations of Chinese families living here — consists of noodles, chop suey, fried rice and vegetable dishes. Chinese people in Calcutta typically practise Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, slam and Christianity, so it is understandable if you are puzzled by how they came to worship Kali.

She notes, “Legend has it that the site where the temple stands today was once occupied by an old tree. Under the tree stood two black stones smeared with vermilion, said to represent the goddess. The local people worshipped these black stone and on observing them, the Chinese settlers began emulating the practice.” Apparently, the parents of a young Chinese boy who was critically ill laid him near the tree, and he was cured after they prayed to Kali.

The author’s dedication to her subject is palpable in the anecdotes sprinkled throughout the text, and the extensive bibliography at the end of this book. It is the quality and depth of her research that makes this work stand out. It is not merely a catalogue of recommendations about the places you must visit and the things you must eat. It is encyclopaedic in its scope and treatment. Kanjilal takes pride in Calcutta’s heritage; she wants you to fall in love with it.

A Taste of Time: A Food History of Calcutta

Author: Mohona Kanjilal

Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Pages: 512; Price: Rs 899

This book will supply you with useful mini-lessons on iconic establishments in Calcutta — such as Mocambo, Magnolia, Trincas, Sky Room, Flury’s — that are frequented by people with a handsome disposable income. Many of these happen to be located in the Park Street neighbourhood, which comes alive on evenings, weekends, and during Christmas and New Year celebrations. Some are known for their continental food and live music.

Those who have experienced Park Street in its heyday often complain about how it is not what it used to be. Kanjilal writes, “In the 1980s, the entertainment scene in Park Street began to peter out because the Left Front government disapproved of such bourgeois indulgences and raised the entertainment tax. Musicians, singers and dancers, who used to perform in restaurants on this amazing thoroughfare, quietly packed their bags and retreated.”

Change is inevitable but communities have managed to find creative ways to preserve the old and adopt the new. A great example of this is dolma — a traditional dish of ground meat (usually lamb) stuffed into grape leaves — made by Armen­i­ans in Kolkata. Since it was tough to source grape leaves, they started using cabbage lea­ves. Kanjilal notes, “It is widely believed that it was the Armen­ians who taught Bengalis the art of making patoler dolma.”

If you like to try out new recipes when you read books about food, you might appreciate the ones that Kanjilal has collected and included. The chefs and home cooks that she spoke to are from different communities in Kolkata. They have generously shared their recipes to make rasmalai, tipsy pudding, rosogolla, jalebi pudding, cheese sambusak, galawati kebab, chicken Manchurian, ilish maachher paturi, chingri maachher malaikari and shaphalay.

This book will excite the taste buds of vegetarians who might be unaware of the vegetarian delicacies that are part of Bengali cuisine. Kanjilal writes, “Most of the dals consumed in West Bengal come from the other states in India. Apart from the natural cropping factor, the super-abundant supply of fish made dal, as a source of protein, unnecessary.” She attributes the shift to “the spread of the Vaishnav Bhakti cult, whose followers were vegetarian.”

During her research, Kanjilal learnt that many vegetarian dishes in Bengal owe their emergence to widows who were subjected to numerous restrictions. This included following a vegetarian diet. They were banned from eating not only fish, meat and eggs but also onion and garlic because of their apparent ability to inflame the widows’ sexual desires. Their skilful innovations, and the contributions of Marwari and Gujarati migrants, have added to the range of vegetarian dishes that are now served in Kolkata’s homes, streets and restaurants.

This book contains much to entice gourmands, flâneurs, nostalgists, historians and tourists. If you have not visited Calcutta yet, this book might tempt you to make that journey and also help you plan a comprehensive itinerary. If you live in the city, or happen to be a frequent visitor, this book might make you re-examine your “been there done that” attitude and show you precious hidden gems in neighbourhoods that you have heard of but never stepped into.