BENGALI CULINARY CULTURE OVER AGES TILL FALL OF SENA DYNASTY

Bengalis are renowned for their culinary art. The variety of dishes that a Bengali kitchen can rustle up
is unimaginable. But were the Bengalis thus before.

I was studying Niharranjan Rays Bangalir Itihas, translated into English by John W. Wood, and the
name of the book is The History of Bengali People from the earliest times till the fall of the Sena
Dynasty.

There is part of a chapter on eating habits of the Bengalis in that era. There are not many documents
available regarding the food and drink, taste and palate and culinary arts of the Bengali people in that
era. I have not taken reference to the names of various Hindu religious and historical documents that
appear in the chapter, but have attempted to write it as simply as my capability allows. And I desire to
share my findings with my friends.

Rice was a staple food of all classes even in those times for the Bengali. There were different ways of
cooking rice, but the most normal was to eating it piping hot with ghee. The ghee was made from
cows milk and the meal was served on green plantain leaf. Payash was another favourite food at
social functions and among the people of the upper classes.

Food for the common people and the villagers consisted of hot rice with ghee, various garden
vegetables, of which spinach receives special mention, jute leaves, and of course broth of maurala
fish.

The menu at social functions like wedding feasts was quite different. Collected from documents of one
particular wedding ceremony feast, vegetable curries were served in such excess that it was even too
much for the upper-class Bengali. But, the preparation was so fine that everything was eaten. There is
further description of the fan fare at the wedding of Damaynati a white, very pungent curry prepared
with yoghurt and mustard (which caused the guests to shake and slap their heads while eating);
various curries of venison, goats meat and poultry; a curry of various ingredients, not of meat but of
something notably similar (possibly green jackfruit, eechar); fish curry; and various other kinds of
sweets, youghurt and the like. To drink, a fragrant water blended with camphor was served. From
Buddhist songs and couplets we learn that camphor was also used as a spice with pan.

Of the meats, venison was enjoyed a lot especially amongst the upper classes and the hunting
people like Savaras and Pullindas. Goat meat was extremely populer at all levels of society. In some
regions, among certain classes of people, it was customary to eat dried meat. There is frequent
mention of prepartions from milk like dai, payash, khir and other sweet meats.

However, from the descriptions available, the cooking procedures, of the Bengali people, whether
cooking vegetables or fish or meat, was complex and involved a great variety of ingredients.

It is noteworthy that though fish consumption was a staple diet of the Bengali people due to the
multitude of rivers, streams, canals and ponds, the Aryan civilisation of the north never looked
favourably at this. Bengalis also liked their meat though Buddhisma and Jainism in the seventh and
sixth centuries forbade these.

For Bengalis, excepting a few holy days, when only vegetarian food was consumed, there was no
limitation on consumption of fish and meat on other days. However, there were certain rules on the
type of fish and meat that was to be consumed.

Rohita(rohu), saphara, puti, sakura(shole) and other white scaly fish were edible by Brahmins. Oil of
hilsa finds special mention as a consumable. It appears that even in ancient times as much as today,
hilsa fish was one of the favourite foods of the Bengalis and that its oil was used in a number of ways.
Brahmins were however forbidden to eat any fish that lived in mud-holes, fish whose mouth and head
resembled a snake(like ban fish) or fish which did not have any scales. There were also prohibitions
on the consumption of rotten and dried fish, though there is record that people of Bengal were very
fond of eating dried fish.

Meat such as that of snail, crab, rooster, breast of stork, dusk, water-fowl, camel, cow and swine were
completely forbidden, at least in the society regulated by Brahmanical laws. However, among lower-
class people and the aborginal tribes, disreputable fishes and several types of poultry were all
regarded as fit for consumption.

Regarding to five clawed creatures, there was no strong objection to anyone eating iguana, rabbit,
porcupine or tortoise.

Regarding vegetables, most of the vegetables we eat today, such as brinjal, gourd, pumpkin,
cucumber and root vegetables have been used by Bengali people since very ancient times. In the
medieval period, other vegetables, such as potato, have come into the diet of the Bengalis. Potato as
we know, was brought in by the Portuguese. But, in ancient times potato did not exist in Bengal. The
Bengalis crave for various edible creepers is also a very ancient one. However, in the list of foods of
the ancient Bengali, nowhere do we find mention of dal.

Among the fruits, there is frequent reference to banana, palmyra (tal shash), mango, jackfruit, coconut
and sugarcane. Banana trees found place in various religious ceremonies as puja, wedding and
mangal festivities. Drinking of sugarcane juice was also practised and preparation of molasses and a
type of sugar cube from sugarcane juice was also practised.

In addition to milk, coconut milk,cane juice and palm juice, many kinds of alcoholic drinks were very
popular in ancient Bengal. Wines prepared from molasses in Bengal were famous across India. Wines
were produced from molasses, fermented rice, wheat, honey, sugarcane and palm juice.