Durga Puja and the host of food memories it evokes

From honouring traditions in house pujas to the community spirit in pandals, to a thriving street-food culture, the stories of food revolving around the five-day festival are varied and diverse

As Indians, we’d go out on a limb to say that there are perhaps very few groups of people in the world who do a better job at combining food and festivals. Therefore it is only apt that we have culinary traditions associated with all our festive celebrations, beginning with Durga Puja as we march into October. Kolkata is currently in its last leg of preparation with roads getting blocked off, one pandal at a time, while a few houses in the city that have pujas at home are polishing their silver and brassware as they ready themselves to welcome the goddess.

While the house pujas are fewer in number and are usually a family affair restricted to old Bengali families with social clout, the community pandals have made Durga Puja more accessible to the common people. However, what unites them both is the spirit of community as it is an impossibly tall task to carry out the five-day elaborate rituals single-handedly. Central to all of this is the bhog that is served–first to the goddess and then to the worshippers or guests.

Traditional bhog at house pujas

Ronita Dey, of one of Kolkata’s oldest house pujas in the north of Kolkata, remembers how she learnt how to perform all the rituals by observing her mother-in-law. “The bhog that is served to the goddess is one of the most sacred parts of the festival and is prepared between me and a separate thakur (traditional cook) who knows all the rules,” she tells me. In fact, the rituals are so elaborate that the menu changes every day and the ingredients have to strictly adhere to the set rules. She has to eat vegetarian food for the entire period of Devipakkha (when the goddess is worshipped) as after her mother-in-law, Dey is the one of the main people in charge of the over-200-year-old puja at Ramdulal Street in north Kolkata.

However, when it comes to the bhog that is served to the guests, the menu and the rules are quite different. Between the daily prasad (offerings from the puja) and the more elaborate lunches and dinners, the family sees around 250 guests dine at their home through the five days. “This menu is completely different from what is offered to the goddess but is part of the community bhog that is cooked by another thakur. We serve fish on Saptami and then again on Dashami after the immersion of the idol and the other days, there are elaborate vegetarian dishes,” says Dey. The menu often comprises dishes such as pulao, alur dom, chhanna masala, begun bhaaja, peas puri and a string of mishtis–both made in-house and ordered from their nearby sweetshop called Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy,  considered to be an iconic sweetshop in Kolkata. Meanwhile, passersby who attend the daily aratis are never returned empty-handed, as they are served with sweets and fruits.

This brings us to myths and man-made traditions surrounding the bhog for Durga Puja as the rules of making them differ from family to family, having something to do with the premise of the festival itself. “The celebration of Durga Puja is the homecoming of Ma Durga–the daughter–and food is an important way of showing our affection towards our loved ones. Even though scriptures lay down rules, the difference in traditions is quite natural in the same manner as how different families could be cooking for their loved ones,” says Indrani Banerjee, whose ancestral house in the suburbs of Kolkata is celebrating its 150th Durga Puja this time. Her family serves both mutton and fish to guests as it has been a tradition for years. “My ancestors thought that that is how they wanted to indulge the goddess, their daughter, and so it has been the tradition for us,” she adds.

Community bhogs at puja pandals

Meanwhile, both Madhushree Basu Roy and Anindya S. Basu–the couple behind the 73k-strong Instagram account @pikturenama–have fond childhood memories of queuing up for their share of the bhog at their respective childhood houses. “The fun part of puja for me was sitting down for a lunch comprising khichudi, labda and alur dom with my friends after Ashthami anjali,” says Basu, who grew up in Chandannagar. Roy, who grew up in Port Blair, also recalls being first introduced to bhog at the local Durga Puja organised by the Bengali community there. As a couple, the duo also spent a few pujas having bhog in Pune. “While you can’t really take holidays for Durga Puja when you are working outside Kolkata, we always tried to make time for bhog on Ashthami and that would involve us going to the one organised at Aundh,” shares Basu.

Bhog at puja pandals generally involves crowdfunding and everyone pitching in to help with serving to organising it. Variations in the menu at these community affairs also cement the fact that traditions diversify in the hands of people. Roy also recalls her mother cooking for the Durga Puja organised by Ramakrishna Mission in Port Blair. “Since it was a community affair, my mother would help them cook the bhog that was later served to guests. I remember her mentioning how some of the recipes were very different from what she had known so far,” Roy says.

Street food and dining out

While the bhog during Durga Puja is just one aspect–albeit a major one–of the food enjoyed during the festival, the street food culture during these five days is something that must be taken note of. Apart from existing food outlets, temporary ones crop up alongside all major puja pandals, serving quick dishes ranging from the famous kathi rolls to the Kolkata biriyani, momos and phuchkas. The last few years have also seen more diversification in the form of everything from Italian to Mexican in the offing. Every fine-dining and star-hotel also comes up with their special menus that usually run out of bookings.

Being prominent food bloggers, Basu and Roy also dip into why this is a thriving time for food outlets. “While we like staying home and eating good food cooked in our kitchen or ordering in, there is an entire set of people who go out to eat during these five days. One reason is a bit patriarchal as even today, in India, it is mostly the women of the family who cook and they want a break during these five days. Secondly, a lot of families from humble backgrounds save up especially to eat out during the festival as a rare treat. Dining at a five-star for them, during Durga Puja, is a big deal,” said Basu.

The thriving street-food culture is, in fact, not just limited to Kolkata during Durga Puja. Recalling his childhood days of spending the pujas at CR Park in the capital city, New Delhi-based Vivek Vaibhav Roy recalls: “Trying out the street food there was a big highlight along with visiting the pandal.” Now that he is married to Dey's elder daughter, he is gearing up to spend his second Durga Puja in Kolkata this year.

“I was used to the puri and sabji bhog that my family from Bihar made during festivals but at my wife’s house, I came across bhog dishes comprising gourd and cottage cheese that I absolutely loved! I have never liked gourd otherwise but the labda is excellent,” he laughs. But just like the rest of Kolkata today, he is also excited about trying out other food. “Spending Durga Puja in Kolkata also means hanging out with friends and eating outside, and that is something I am looking forward to!” he adds.

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