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INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, ARTS AND SCIENCE ISSN 2319 – 9202

An Internationally Indexed Peer Reviewed & Refereed Journal

Shri Param Hans Education & Research Foundation Trust

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CASIRJ Volume 6 Issue 5 [Year - 2015] ISSN 2319 – 9202

THE CHANGING IDENTITY OF BENGALI IN THE ERA OF GLOBALISATION

Afrida Aainun Murshida M.A English Literature

Calcutta, West , .

Bengal: A brief history

Bengal comprised of , along with the states of Bihar, Orissa and the Chotanagpur area previously which was partitioned into two provinces under the British colonial rule in October 1905. The resulting provinces consisted of with the majority of Muslim population and the western part with the majority of Hindu population. This partition further sowed the seed of the in 1947 when the eastern part of Bengal joined Pakistan and the western part of Bengal joined India as West Bengal. ‘East Bengal ’, was renamed as ‘’ in 1954, which again gained independence from Pakistan and was called Bangladesh in 1971.

Calcutta the capital the West Bengal is located along the bank of the river Bhagirathi-Hooghly, distributaries of the river Ganga. The origin of the city can be traced back almost about 300 years when the three settlements of Sutaniti, Gobindopur and Kalikata were combined by Job Charnock, of the Company. Dhaka ‘the city of thousand mosques ’and the capital of Bangladesh is far older than Calcutta. Dhaka was a small town in the 4th century which became an important Mughal commercial and provincial capital till 1704 and then became the British district headquarters in the 18th century, the subsidiary capital of East Pakistan and then finally the capital of Bangladesh in 1971.

Bengali cuisine before the European invasion:

The staple of Bengali was locally grown and it is till today. A European traveler wrote, ‘ The rice here is better than the European one, especially the scented variety, for besides being very fine and of a most agreeable flavor, it has after being cooked a nice smell which one would think a blending of several scents.’ Wheat, fruits, , and milk products such as yoghurt and clarified butter () were among the other food consumed by the .

Fish and some kinds of meat formed a very important part of the Bengali diet, eaten by the Brahmins as well though strictly vegetarian in other parts of India. The Brahmins avoided many kinds of meat and fish varieties as those were prohibited to the Orthodox Hindus all over India.

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CASIRJ Volume 6 Issue 5 [Year - 2015] ISSN 2319 – 9202

Snails, crabs, fowls, domestic and wild, cranes, ducks, camels, boars, were prohibited to the Brahmins.

There were 40 varieties of rice, 60 kinds of fruits and more than 120 kinds of vegetables available in Bengal during the 9th and 10th century. Bengali included , , seed, long pepper, poppy seeds, asafetida, and sour lemon. medium included (still used widely today), sesame oil and ghee by the affluent people.

Sweets have always been popular in Bengal since the Middle Ages whereas sugar has been grown in Bengal. The name for sugar is ‘sharkara’ which passed into other languages but in Bengali it is known as ‘chini’ derived from the word China. Most sweets were made of milk, milk products, thickened milk and milk solids.

Bengali cuisine after the European invasion with new ingredients and new world techniques:

The Bengali cuisine today is almost incomplete without the inclusion of potatoes, tomatoes, chilies which were actually introduced by the Europeans. As quoted by a writer, “Next to the Irish, Bengalis are probably the largest -eaters in the world.” Other inclusions were okra, , guava, papaya, sweet potato, cashew, pineapple, peanut, apple, tobacco, corn or maize, sapodilla, and litchi.

The incorporation of these ingredients in the Bengali introduced new recipes, for example ‘’, a bitter dish served as appetizer. It is a mixture of various vegetables diced and then sautéed in ginger, mustard and cumin seeds, and cooked in milk and water, potatoes being a very important essential ingredient. ‘Poshto aloo’ is a dish made with potatoes and poppy seeds. Another dish called ‘Chheshki’ is mad with root vegetables, potatoes, mustard and cumin seeds. Fish and meat are normally cooked in gravy called ‘macher jhol’. Some non-vegetarian popular Bengali dishes include ‘lau chingri’ made of prawns and gourds originated from Europe. ‘Malai ’ is another popular Bengali dish made coconut milk accompanied by plain rice or the Bengali ‘’ made of white wheat flour. Another dish called ‘Bawra’ is anything mashed and formed into round shapes and deep fried generally in mustard oil. It has many kinds among which the one made with potatoes, chick pea and flour is also called ‘Faluri’. Fish and vegetables steamed with spices is generally called ‘Bhapa’. Bengalis love boiled vegetables mashed with mustard oil or ghee and seasoned with chilies and spices called ‘Bhorta’. Different finely chopped and mixed with spices is cooked in gravy or dry called ‘Ghonto’. A very rich preparation of meat using a lot of oil or ghee and spices with ground ginger and tempered with ‘gorom moshla’ is known as ‘Kalia.’ Ground meat croquettes bound by spices and eggs served in savory gravy is another Bengali favorite called ‘.’ Meat cooked in yoghurt, ghee and paste, generally cooked with coconut milk in the southern part of Bangladesh is called ‘’. Another popular dish of oily fish sliced and wrapped in banana leaves with a bit of mustard paste, mustard oil, chili, turmeric and is called ‘Paturi’, is

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CASIRJ Volume 6 Issue 5 [Year - 2015] ISSN 2319 – 9202 equally popular in both the provinces of Bengal across the borders. The Bengali version of curry is termed ‘Torkari.’

The sweet and sour ‘Chutneys’ and ‘achar’ pickles made with fruits is the equivalent of sorbet in European dishes followed by the . Sweets are the Bengalis favorites and they are addicted to various kinds of sweet dishes made with a variety of ingredients. Bengalis are also equally addicted to and keep snacking now and then with a sip of tea. Snacks include deep fried ‘’, ‘’, or the sweet ‘jilapi’, ‘emarti’ or western styled cakes and sandwiches.

The Bengali sweets consisted mainly of milk and sugar. Thickened milk ‘’, yoghurt, and cottage cheese ‘channa’ were used for various recipes of sweets and its varieties. The extensive use of ‘channa’ by the sweet makers began in the mid 19th century when new varieties were made with fanciful names. Some the famous sweets are ‘rasogolla’, a white ball of ‘channa’ served in sugar syrup, ‘’, is ‘channa’ mixed in sugar fried in clarified butter ‘ghee’, ‘cham-cham’, ‘’, ‘ledikeni’, and ‘’ are some other delicacies.

Recipes as a result of the cultural influences:

The Bengali cuisine has been open to foreign influences and Bengalis have readily welcomed these new dishes. Calcutta was always a cosmopolitan city with many communities residing together with peace and harmony, until 1911 Calcutta was also the capital of the Indian Empire under the British rule. During the mid 19th century a new westernized Bengali society emerged who studied under the British universities adopted western political ideas and also explored new cuisine.

Cakes, halwa, custard puddings, marmalades, toffees, ice , and biscuits became very popular inclusions in the Bengali diets. British dishes that became a part of the Bengali cuisine were tongue , roast fowls, Irish stew, sardines, mutton baked, vegetarian and non vegetarian soups, sausages, rolls, pie and puddings.

Bengali cuisine and its global context:

The ideas of health and nutrition have given a new dimension to not just Bengali cuisine but also all other authentic dishes traditionally made throughout the world.

Food now is supposed to be the solution of health issues and is thus prescribed and eaten as remedy so that various cardiovascular and oncological issues can be taken care of. This social awareness resulted in the discrimination between healthy and unhealthy which thus have resulted in the modification of many traditionally made ethnic cooking.

The globalizations on the other hand have own affects. Food is now reordered and formalized in all countries according to the needs. As a result a new group of expertise has emerged giving professional help to people so that not only they globalize ethnic cuisine but also lay stress on the

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CASIRJ Volume 6 Issue 5 [Year - 2015] ISSN 2319 – 9202 nutritional value. The ideas of authenticity have now changed its meaning. Authenticity has to compromise with the taste of those who do not belong to the ethnic community and for commercial reasons. The unavailability of the ingredients is also another reason.

This new global identity has created a new tension as to how much this new dishes are authentic. The originality of the dishes has been compromised to blend it to the global taste and meet the standardized nutritional value. Although there seems to be a conscious effort to resist influences and cling to an identity corresponding to the homeland but it is unable to resist. This tug of war has given birth to the new hybrid identity to the Bengali cuisine making it globally acceptable. Now whether this new identity harmed the authenticity or whether it is for the good is still a question mark, but the fact is that this lead to gain in the material wealth no doubt losing the ethnic quality of local flavor.

Hybridity and New Identity of Bengali cuisine:

As per the colonial goes, the colonialism was definitely an encounter between cultures, languages, people, and systems of thought where the European thoughts were transplanted to everything including food. The result is what theorists like Homi K. Bhabha has termed as the ‘hybrid’. This resulted in a hybridized half native half westernized unsatisfactory identity of the once colonized communities. This is also the result of displacement, migration, immigration, and exile of community/ culture into another geographical and cultural region. These contaminated cultures eventually gave rise to derivatives, newer cultures.

A central feature of the individuals with these newer identities seems to be the longing to cling to their homeland, the traditional identity. Sometimes they are also in state in which they seek to combine the cultures, the old and the new, without abandoning either. Identity thus takes various forms leading to split consciousness, multiple identities and solidarities, and cultural fundamentalism which re-assert ‘native’ cultural identity. These all affect the overall cultural traditions and ethnicity leading to a global culture.

Though the impact of globalization has been taken in a pessimistic light as it has been generally viewed to destroy the cultural identities leading to a westernized, homogenized consumer culture yet the products of the cultural hybridity especially the global Bengali cuisine is a gift to the world. Culinary changes and modes have begun to reflect some of the new strands in culture and public dining. Simultaneously new concepts of what kind of food can be served on formal occasions is changing the relationships of different regional .

In the world of food Bengali cuisine too has been in the management of chaos celebrating the diversity and the transformations. There are dozens if not hundreds of varieties of all the Bengali delicacies and everybody has one favorite version of a particular preparation considering the other to be inferior as per their taste and gastronomical preferences.

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CASIRJ Volume 6 Issue 5 [Year - 2015] ISSN 2319 – 9202

Thus this new classifications of the emerging Bengali cuisines gained new exposure in the international market with new shaping and greater status relationships among various other cuisines. Certain local dishes are being rediscovered which have otherwise become extinct.

Conclusion:

Ethnic food is also substituted for cultural identity and self definition. In Bengal and eastern parts of India, when a child first tastes rice it is celebrated as an auspicious occasion. These occasions ensure that food gets associated with traditional concepts and reflects cultural identity to a great extent.

However in a globalizing world, while the culture of ethnic food and ethnic dining can become a more and more a symbol of multicultural sensitivities and cosmopolitanism, it is also increasingly becoming a major symbolic substitute for the culture it represents. Cosmopolitanism has lead to distinctive cultural styles of food paradoxically becoming autonomous from the cultures from which the cuisines come and the civilizations or lifestyles they represent as per the demand of the emerging global culture. Bengali cuisines too have become more autonomous of the demands and requirements of the culture it emanates and have become more manageable and acceptable for other cultures.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Achaya, K.T Indian Food: A Historical Companion; 1994  Banerji, Chitrita Life and Food in Bengal; 1993  Burton, David The Raj at Table; 1993  Prakash, Om Food and Drinks in Ancient India; 1961  Raychaudhuri, Tapankumar Bengal Under Akbar and Jehangir; 1953  Roy, Atul Chandra History of Bengal. Mughal Period;  Young, Robert Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory Culture and Race; 1995  Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture; 1994  Achaya, K.T A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food; 1998  Jaffery, Madhur A Taste of India; 1986

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