 "Odisha, West Bengal in a syrupy sweet war")
Can wars be sweet? Why, this one definitely is.
Two neighbouring Indian states — West Bengal and Odisha — have drawn up the battle lines, and formed ranks as they get ready to defend their respective claims as the birthplace of 'Rasgulla', one of the most loved Indian sweet dishes.
Odisha recently claimed the syrupy sweets were invented there, as part of a ritual in the age-old worship of Lord Jagannath. After the recently concluded Nabakalebara and the Rath Jatra festival, the state’s claim to the sweet got louder, The Hindu reported. Odias explain the origin of the sweet by saying Lord Jagannath in one of the rituals offers sweets to his consort Lakshmi Devi, to pacify her for not being taken along during the chariot ride.
West Bengal, the state synonymous with the quintessential ‘Rosogolla’, could hardly have taken the claim lying down. According to a report in The Hindu, the Das family that runs the nearly 100-year-old Rosogolla Bhavan and traces its ancestry to Nobin Chandra Das, the legendary sweetmaker generally credited with inventing the sweet, is all prepared to defend their great-great-grandfather’s and their own claim on the sweet.
The Das family finds Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on their side. The state has begun preparatory documentation for getting a Geographical Indication (GI) registration for rosogolla. “Yes, we have initiated the documentation process prior to submitting our application,” The Hindu quoted West Bengal Science and Technology Minister Robi Ranjan Chatterjee as saying.
GI authentication is used to mark a particular object as corresponding to a specific geographical location or origin, thus acting as a certification that the product would possess certain qualities and/or would be made according to traditional methods in the geographical origin concerned.
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NDTV quoted Jagannath Ghosh, spokesman of ‘Paschim Bango Mistanno Byabsayee Samity’ and owner of a famous North Kolkata sweet shop, as saying: “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked us to do the needful for ensuring that Bengal gets its rightful place as inventor of Rosogolla. Nobin Chandra Das had introduced the sweet in 1868, and we must not allow others to hijack our heritage.”
Dhiman Das, great-great-grandson of Nobin Chandra, has completely refuted the claims of Rosogolla being associated with Nabakalebara and Rath Jatra. “The sweets offered to Lord Jagannath were never made of chhana (cottage cheese), so they cannot be called rosogolla. They look different and are made differently,” he was quoted as saying in The Hindu report.
Sanjoy Das, the fifth-generation descendant of Nobin Chandra Das, told NDTV: “With Rosogolla getting the legal seal of having originated from Kolkata, the sweet can be showcased globally and there can be more R&D initiatives. But if there is a formal recognition of Rosogolla having originated from Bengal, we can also go for patents in future.”