West Bengal is famous for its scrumptious cuisines. Though the staple food of the state revolves around fish and rice, there are so many varieties of the same that you will feel like having a different dish every time. You can have the fish steamed, fried, stewed with vegetables and sausages or boiled in spices, with different flavors.
Characteristics of Bengali cuisine
The traditional society of Bengal has always been heavily agrarian; hunting, except by some local clansmen, was uncommon. Rice is the staple, with many regions growing speciality rice varieties. Domestic cattle (especially the water buffalo) are common, more for agriculture than large scale dairy farming. Milk is an important source of nutrition, and also a key ingredient in Bengal’s plethora of desserts. Also, as one would expect, ordinary food served at home is different from that served during social functions and festivals, and again very different from what might be served at a larger gathering (e.g., a marriage feast).
Bengali meals
The Bengalis are great food lovers and take pride in their cuisine. The medium of cooking is mustard oil which adds on its own pungency. Another very important item of Bengali cuisine is the variety of sweets or mishti as they call them. Most of them are milk based and are prepared from chana (ponir as it is popularly known). The most popular among the Bengali sweets are the Roshogolla, Shondesh, Pantua and Mishti Doi and these four sweets are a must at every wedding besides some other sweets, which may vary as per individual choice. A meal, for the Bengali, is a ritual in itself even if it only boiled rice and lentils (dal bhat), with of course a little fish.
Common Bengali recipe styles
You can note the Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Burmese influences in the food of Bengal, not to mention some British influence, because of the formation of Kolkata during the 1700s. Each entry here is actually a class of recipes, producing different dishes depending on the choice of ingredients. There are six different tastes to which the Bengali palate caters to, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, hot and koshay.s