Chittagong: aloo, aloo

December 2022

"Aloo, aloo" - the man called up to the high-rise apartments in my neighborhood. Someone would shout down from the window and usually send a child or servant with money to pick up a few kilos. When I took this photo the man was astonished that I wanted to photograph his shop-on-a-tricycle.

For a plant that is native to South America, it certainly made vital inroads into Bengal. Potatoes are found in a wide variety of dishes and I am certain Bangladeshi children grow up thinking that potatoes have "always been here". Potatoes are the primary filling of singhara, the pyramid shaped, fried snack that sustains many people who need a quick calorie boost. However, my favorite form of potato in Bangladesh is mashed - or bhorta.

The simple bhorta, the potpourri of greens, peels, vegetables, fish, and meats that are either boiled, steamed, baked, charred or lightly fried. The most common form of bhorta in Bengali culture is Aloo Bhorta, which many will describe as mashed potatoes but it is very different from its western counterpart. The Bengali bhortas will always have three main elements - mustard oil, shallots and dried red chilies or fresh green chilies. They are more like the Bengali versions of Salsas and Ceviches. ... In essence, they are a collection of small side dishes that we serve along side rice and main entrees. Growing up as a child of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada, my parents made every effort to instill Bangaliyana (Bengalihood) — emphasizing how important it was to recognize and remember my roots. Quite often we see children from the diaspora, not having attachments to their cultural food. There are so many reasons why this could be — parenting styles, generational gap, language barrier, lack of attachment to their motherland, as well as experiencing food shaming and racism outside of the home. In my own personal experience, one of my biggest cultural shocks was my husband not having attachments to Bangladeshi food the way I did. Stating the obvious, of course the biggest reason is that I am a first generation Bangladeshi-Canadian who spent a good part of her childhood in the motherland, whereas my husband is a second generation American-Bangladeshi, who was born and raised here in USA... He does love Bengali food ... But he doesn’t crave bhorta ... the way most Bengalis are supposed to. Likewise many second-generation Bangladeshis in the diaspora steer clear of delicacies like Shutki, dried fish because of its smell, Korola, bittermelon because it’s bitter, or Dherosh, okra because it has a slimy texture. Just like my husband, often these children grew up loving biryani, haleem, kababs, tandooris and naans but cannot grasp their parents obsession with our indigenous cuisine like bhorta, shutki and panta bhat (fermented rice). In my husband’s understanding, bhorta and panta bhat were the food of the peasants, the diet of lower class groups, who had little access to meat. He is actually not wrong. They are indeed simple peasant food from rural Bengal, food that are ancient and indigenous to our land. Indigenous delicacies like bhorta, bhat and mach can be traced as far back as the 8th century in epic poems and folklores of the undivided Bengal, in which Bengali food is described as rice (bhat) with fresh ghee, a jute-leaf mash (bhorta) and small fish (mach) cooked inside banana leaves (paturi). When Portuguese missionary and traveler, Friar Sebastian Manrique visited Bengal in the 17th century he noticed that the people of Bengal were content with the daily meal of rice, often panta bhat, salt and shak (green vegetables). The upper class of the society consumed ghee, butter, milk and various lacteous preparations and sweetmeats. Dishes like biryani, kabab and naan are more recent, introduced by the Persians and Mughals and culturally enforced from 1947 till 1971 when Bangladesh was under the Pakistani regime. In the Pakistani governments efforts to assimilate Bengalis to Pakistani culture, food like roti and chapati were forcibly consumed and attempts were made to abandon eating rice... After the Bangladesh Liberation War, to replace that which was lost, Bangladeshis looked deep within — to the regional roots of the simple bhorta, the potpourri of greens, peels, vegetables, fish, and the humble rice, to bring back the once lost Bangaliyana. Pohela Boishakh is that celebration of our Bengalihood, transcending the border between Bangladesh and West Bengal, it is the revival of the indigenous cultural roots and home-style cooking of Bengali and Bangladeshi food. In Bangladesh, a country marked by a huge chasm between the rich and the poor, the once austere mishmash of vegetables, bhorta and mach bhaja, has become the game-changer - marking the return of the privileged to the food of their forefathers. The gradual incorporation of bhorta, mach and bhaja-bhaji as a celebratory food at home and abroad is a tale of how sharing common food as a ritual can become a marker of cultural and national identity.

https://www.thespiceodyssey.com/eat/bhorta-1

Thank God for Bengali nationalism lest bhorta have been abandoned as some "peasant food". Aloo Bhorta (Bengali mashed potatoes) takes a simple food and puts it on spice steroids. After eating Bengali mashed potatoes, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to return to regular ones. I, in fact, was very anti-biriyani in Bangladesh. It was served to me ad nauseum. I scolded my local friends frequently for serving biriyani rather than "real" Bengali food (of which there is plenty).

If there is one vegetable that is sold in all seasons, in all locations, and available at all times - it is the lowly potato. And I noted that the three-wheeled sellers always quickly sell out. Bangladeshi cuisine is built on potatoes and chilis - both from the New World. How ironic.

Although living in Chittagong was not easy and not all memories are good ones, I must admit that the chance to experience original aloo bhorta (Bengali mashed potatoes) is likely my best food memory and remains one of my favorite international foods.