Darjelling tea is now cueing up before the Hindusthani lassi shops or is pampering the Coke and the Pepsi.
Plight of the metropolitan food in the year of 1885
Even today many of us have the idea that the purity and freshness of food in those days were never under scrutiny. But the actual scenario was different. In the year of 1885 one Mr. A.Mittir was the sanitary inspector of the Public Health Department. He wrote a letter on the plight of the metropolitan food to the editor of the Statesman with utter disappointment. His allegations against milk were that it was being milked from sick cows and has been seen containing puss on proper examination. The milkmen were mercilessly adulterating the milk with water and to fool the lactometer were mixing sugar and starch. One examination revealed that a substantial quantity of chalk has been mixed with the milk. Consumption of this milk afflicted different kinds of stomach disorders and gastritis. Assessment of milk revealed presence of fungus in it. To get extra milk from the cows they were injected with harmful drugs. One could easily witness the hellish scene of injecting the cows if one visited the cow-shed at Ultadanga.
Not only milk, Mr.Mittir also gave a grim picture of the plight of the clarified butter, butter and mustard oil that were consumed by the populace. Due to the mixture of "LARD" made from oil and animal fat, dyspepsia, digestion problems and cholera were a common feature in every household. So many people were losing their lives in the metropolis due to adulteration. The pious Hindus who believed that they were taking pure clarified butter were actually eating turpentine oil, hoof oil and a bone juice prepared in the Munshitala slums. The confection that was sold on the streets and shops were being sold openly, in the process accumulating dust that contained fine particles of horse dung. The consumption of this kind of food resulted in digestion problems, acidity and sour eructation.
In a gully in Shyambazar, Mr.Mittir saw a ditch, the water in which has gone green and poisonous bubbles were emitted constantly. Beside this pool, small cloth bundles were hung on bamboo staves, which were left to soak in this filthy water. These bundles were of curdled milk that was used in the making of sweets found throughout the city. The plight of mutton, beef and fish need not be mentioned. Sick cows were regularly being slaughtered in the slaughterhouse at Tangra. To subdue the pungent smell of the decaying carrion tamarind and chili powder was used. This rubbish was regularly supplied at various restaurants in Kolkata. Small shrimps were cultivated in the roadside sewage drains. In the North Calcutta region, rice was being regularly mixed with rotten rice powder. Barge full of curd coming from Ghatal, had clusters of Mapot larvae in them. Imported tinned fish and condensed milk too were not safe as many of them contained rotten items.
Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy established the Mother Dairy
Absolutely pure milk came to the Bengalis only after the great Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy established the Mother Dairy at Haringhata. In fact we admit it or not, we are perhaps getting a much better package now-a-days; courtesy to the Mother Dairies and Amuls. Considering everything, it seems that the golden age of the Bengali food has started in the recent times. If one has money and of course a right taste for food, he can enjoy an array of dishes, which, he has never tasted before. Due to the globalization, today's Bengali, according to his wish and temperament can turn into a Punjabi, a Madrasi, a Pathan, a Mughal, a French, sometimes a Chinese, a Russian or an American! And they do not have to go picking restaurants for these! With the advent of modern cooking ranges, pressure cookers and ladles, their kitchens can be turned into global restaurants.
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