How hungry British sahibs and Portuguese sailors helped Bengalis develop their sweet tooth

1690: The hungry sahib of the English East India Company sets foot on the ghats of Sutanuti, a thriving industrial village by the Hooghly.



What followed next were escapades and stampedes... Memsahibs and their khansamas, unfortunate nawabs and their elephant-loads of recipes, Odia thakurs and Bihari rasois, cooks from Chittagong and Dhaka, sahib-wannabe babus and their obsequious workers, pankha coolies and khidmatgars all came with saucepans, degchis, brass handis, forks. Kitty parties, newfound bakeries and dak bungalows thrived. Kochi pathas (young goatlings) cried inconsolablly during Kali pujo and ...



Portuguese were already roll present on the scene with the concept of cottage cheese aka chhana



One fine day, a great mind started to mix sugar, khoya and green cardamom powder with chhana



One story goes that Rani Rashmoni of Jaan Bazaar.





Then there was Paramount, the shop known for its sharbet. Freedom fi ghters like Subhas Chandra Bose and the poet Kazi Nazrul Islam were regulars. It is rumoured that Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, the chemist, educator and entrepreneur, gave the recipe of Dabur sharbat to Paramount



Time passes by... The special clock with Bengali numerals, gifted by a satisfi ed customer, Mr Cooke of Cooke and Kelvey, still ticks at Nag’s shop



The origin of rasgulla though is much disputed as both Bengal and Odisha claim that it invented the chhana dumpling



(Text & Illustration: Anirban Bora)