Food and All That
Antara Mukherjee reports a food festival at Government Girls’ General Degree College, Ekbalpore.
In A Taste of Time: A Food History of Calcutta (2021), “Food,” says Mohona Kanjilal, “has always been an integral part of the lifestyle of the residents of Calcutta...whether it is...the phuchka wallah...the jhal muri wallah, selling the spicy puffed rice preparation...or the ghugni wallah serving...the semi-dry and spicy preparation of whole yellow peas...”. Indeed, Food, as a prominent marker of one’s culture, defines the socio-economic fabric of a particular region. As a trading post for the East India Company, the city of Kolkata saw a huge influx of communities and their accompanying culture and cuisine from around mid- eighteenth century. Resultantly enough, Khidirpur or the anglicized Kidderpore area – comprising of Khidderpore, Mominpur, Ekbalpore along with its suburban extension Metiaburz – became a hub of shipping activity and a base for migrant population from the northern plains who were attracted by the ever-increasing maritime trade that later got institutionalized into the Calcutta Port Trust in 1870. Moreover, in the adjacent Alipore and Garden Reach areas affluent Company employees and local Rajahs and Rai Bahadurs set up palatial garden houses. The migrant King, Nawab Wajid Ali will later go on to create ‘ek doosra Lucknow’ in one of these adjacent neighbourhoods, Metaiburz or what was originally Garden Reach. Along with Awadhi cuisine and fashion –this influx filled the Calcutta air with its distinct aroma and finer notes of Thumri and Kathak as well as contributing to its linguistic blend with both the delicate Hindusthani or Urdu ‘zubaan’ and the humble and rooted Awadhi and Bhojpuri. It is from this fusion of migrants from different parts of the country but mostly the north, having varied social and cultural identities, that the multifaceted culture of Kidderpore emerged. In other words, the linguistic diversity of the region could be traced in Bengali speaking Hindus and Muslims, Urdu/Hindi as well as Bhojpuri speaking Muslims and Hindus primarily from Purvanchal region (present eastern UP, Bihar Jharkhand), the English speaking Anglo- Indian and other communities, a sizeable south Indian diaspora and a small but distinct community of Odiya populace, reflected in celebration of an age old Rath mela, establishment of an Oriya school and a Jagannath temple in the area. The socio-cultural-linguistic diversity can be best traced in the gastronomically diverse, rich culinary heritage which is preserved and nurtured by the locality even today. From Pice Hotels selling multifarious traditional Bengali food to Awadhi kebabs, biryanis and pulaos, from traditional Bengali sweets to halwa puri and mawa laddu, from fish fry to bakharkhani and nan khatai, from litti chokha to dal vada and german bread, Kidderpore area has now developed as a culinary basket of south-western Kolkata, an area marked by gastronomical delights.
The food map.
On November 22, 2022, Government Girls’ General Degree College, Ekbalpore, hosted a Heritage Food Fest, Khana-e-Kidderpore, as a part of World Heritage Week to build bridges among communities, to focus on the varied cuisines of the area and, thereby, to exhibit the social and cultural diversity of the same. The festival was supported by the West Bengal Heritage Commission, Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Know Your Neighbour and Break Free Trails. The event included a Food Photography competition where students photographically showcased local food found in their neighbourhood, a Cooking Competition where students prepared sweets of different types which are part of their family heritage, a Panel Discussion on Heritage eateries and popular food of the area. The event also saw the inauguration of a Food Newsletter, ‘Dastarkhwan’, unveiling of a Food Map and the screening of a Food Documentary on local eateries, ‘Khana-e-Kidderpore’. The festival offered scope to local food joints to display their best dishes which helped the local community to sustain their culinary tradition by reaching out to more people in the festival. The Food Photography Competition was judged by travel writer and blogger, Mr. Rangan Datta while the great great great granddaughter of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and Food entrepreneur, Manzilat Fatima selected the best desert amongst a wide variety displayed by the students. Students were felicitated on the stage for their efforts. Writer, poet and critic Nilanjan Hazra was the Chief Speaker who spoke on the origin of Biriyani, tracing it back to the Mughal Kitchen, and also referred to various meat dishes prepared with rice. The event ended with cultural performances where students performed Kathak, the heritage dance form propagated by the Nawab, and teachers reciting, in six different languages – Bengali, English, Hindi, Arabic, Urdu and Persian – poems on food and singing Ghazals, the dominant musical heritage of the locality. The event was convened by Dr Antara Mukherjee, Assistant Professor of English of Govt Girls’ General Degree College with full support from the Principal, Dr Syeda Sariquatul Moula Alquadri, IQAC Coordinator, Dr Debaprasad Banerjee, TCS, Dr Sampa Sen, teaching and non-teaching staff, especially Mr Arup Ghosh, of the college and, most importantly, the committee members of the Food Fest committee, Dr Rajashree Dasgupta, Dr Senjuti Gupta and Dr Koel Adhikary. Mr Sabir Ahamed from Know Your Neighbour and Mr Sohail Sheikh from Break Free Trails were the pillars on which the entire event rested.
Dr Antara Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor of English [WBES] at Durgapur Government College.
Email id: antaramukherje@gmail.com
Pictures Courtesy: Antara Mukherjee
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