| abstract | - Indian cookery has a vast repertoire of delicacies. Bengali cuisine which falls in the sub category of the Indian cookery is one in which the Bengalis great pride in. However, under the guise of progress and modernity the Bengali cuisine has begun to ape the West and most of the dishes in the Bengali cuisine are preferred to satisfy their palate with dishes that foreign to the Bengali culture. Interestingly, enough Bengali food has become very popular and in now available in most parts of the world but it is restricted to a selected few dishes. A highly distinctive cookery came into view in Bengal on the accessibility of the local ingredients that are present in Bengal. The geography of the state of Bengal has an influence on its cuisine. The massive river systems, heat and humidity all come together in forming a fertile soil to allow rice and a huge variety of vegetables to flourish and grow in Bengal. Mangoes, bananas, coconuts and cane sugar grew in great quantity and profusion, fish, milk and meat are ample in the cuisine of Bengal. Commonly, yogurt and other spices of the subcontinent such as ginger and black mustard mainly season the Bengali dishes. Fish and other forms of meat were by and large quite popular back in the day and there was a bias to vegetarianism which was based on religious principles, and it has still continued till this day. Orthodox Bengali vegetarians do not even use onions and garlic in their diet. When Jainism and Buddhism was flowering in the state of Bengal, there was an forbidden law of consuming fish and various other forms of meat, however with the decline of Buddhism in the state of Bengal fish and all the other forms of meat came back into the traditional cuisine of Bengal. The traditional taste of the Bengali cuisine means rice and fish primarily. Since this is the case, it is quite simple to understand the fact that as Bengal is situated on the monsoon drenched eastern coast of India, the fertility of the soil produces an abundance of rice, vegetables etc., along with fish as it is on the coastal area. In the Bengali cuisine the usage of coconut is very prominent and is clearly visible in the cuisine of eastern Bengal (Bangladesh) as well. Unlike many other coastal regions around the world which make use of coconut oil in their cuisine, the Bengali cuisine does not use coconut oil in its cuisine. The preferred medium of cooking is by using mustard oil instead. It is also noted that the Bengali spicing in its cuisine is quite distinctive form the norm in the heartland of India; nevertheless it is very similar to the spicing in its cuisine to that used further along in the east of the region. The staple food diet in the Bengali cuisine is rice. Pure golden mustard oil is the pungent in Bengali cooking and is commonly stored in zinc lined tins. Traditionally, huge square shaped tins are commonly made use of to store and preserve the popular snack food- muri (puffed rice). Achaars (pickles), spices, dals (pulses) and ghee are all stored in different sizes of jars and bottles. The Bengali cuisine is full of vegetable recipes. Therefore, you will find many vegetable dishes in the cuisine of Bengal as well as fish dishes which are simple to make and are simply mouth licking!
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