Presented by Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group, Cooking up Culinary Adventures is the crystallisation of more than a year’s research by Jayabrato Chatterjee. “Almost a year and half back, Jay-da had come to me with the idea, and it immediately struck a chord,” said Neotia.

 

Although Neotia admitted that he preferred home-cooked food over dinner outside, Bhimani promptly reminded the gathering that it was Neotia who has been instrumental in giving Kolkata some of its best dining spaces, from Conclave to Afraa to Jhaal Farezi to The Orient and more.

 

Actor and Chef Sanchayita Bhattacharjee Alam, who is often called Chef Sunshine for her pleasant demeanour, said that when she received her copy of the book, she was a trifle worried that she would be required to read a historical tome. But to her surprise, she found the book ‘an absolute page turner’. The book not only contains rich text about the evolution of the food scene in Bengal but also contains antique photographs and paintings among other things.

 

According to author Jayabrato Chatterjee, the culinary style of Bengal is an adaptation of food and culture of the various communities that have settled here, including the Muslim rulers. Armenians, Portuguese, French, English and the Anglo-Indians, and the Chinese to name a few.

 

Cooking up Culinary Adventures provides delightful glimpses into many the mysteries that lie beneath the contribution made by the different communities – how Bengal’s kitchen accepted and adapted the different influences. The book also highlights one of Bengal’s unique feature – the tussle between the ‘ghoti’ (people from West Bengal) and the ‘bangal’ (people from erstwhile east Bengal, now Bangladesh), which extends from football to food. Interestingly, this is one tussle that has made the kitchens of Bengal richer by way of diverse dishes.

 

As Neotia said, “The book traces the genesis of Bengal’s traditional food influences and rekindles the nostalgia of grandma’s recipes through a rigorously researched time travel into the kitchens of its varied communities and foreign settlers.” 

 

 

Reporting by Uttara Gangopadhyay/IBNS

Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS