Food!

I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without writing an entry about FOOD! Those who do not share my passion for this subject might as well stop reading now, because that’s all there’s going to be.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I’m so happy here is because most of the food I’ve been eating is yellow, due to all the turmeric that is used in the preparation. My fingernails on my right hand are also yellow because I’ve been eating “Bangladeshi style” whenever I’m not eating at home (e.g. today’s lunch). The first few times I ate like this I felt like I was on “Double Dare” and someone had given me a Physical Challenge. It really took me back to my childhood days of playing with my food. But now that I’ve done it a few times I think it’s great fun. A real relationship is developed between the eater and the food, and while the atmosphere is lovely when there’s a big table of people sitting around, not a lot of talking is done, because everyone is too busy mixing and moulding and squelching and squeezing and picking and flicking and shovelling their food. Sounds gross, but I love it.

My breakfast is as “western” as I can get it at the moment – some chipatis (like naan bread) spread with Australian “Beerenberg” Strawberry Jam which I purchased from a Supermarket in Dhaka. I’ve also been having some freshly made mango jam (!!!), which Upsana made. It is really lovely. My lunch and dinner are usually the same, but by dinner time the food’s gone cold, which is why I’ll be opting to start making my own dinner as soon as I can get set up (I have a fridge and gas burner so far, but no pots and pans or cupboard items). One thing I’ve noticed is that Bangladeshis all seem to eat the same foods all the time. It’s all delicious, but you’d think it would get a little tedious with three meals a day, every day.

There is always rice. Chicken curry with potatoes is also very common (double the carbs, Daniel. Gotta love that). The potatoes are really cheap, but really good quality – like the kipfler potatoes you buy in the gourmet section – and they soak up all the yumminess of the curry. The chickens are bought live from the market and killed and plucked in front of you, which is a bit difficult to get used to. Fish is always excellent and fresh and is usually fried up with some turmeric and other spices and sometimes some vegies. The veggie dishes are the most varied – I’ve had lots of good ones. The best so far have been eggplant coated in spices and then fried; and a variety of red spinach-type stuff which has a slightly bitter taste, but tastes amazing. Okra is also popular, but I’ve had too much of it now and I’ve gone off it a bit – with that jelly-like texture, you think I’d be into it, but strangely enough, it’s not my thing anymore. They also do some interesting things with eggs here. Hard boiled and then coated in spices and fried; or an egg curry which is really different and nothing at all like mum’s curried egg sandwiches. And of course, there’s always dhal. Very yellow dhal.

I am going to make an effort to get a little recipe book together while I’m here, so rather than simply saying, “coated in spices”, I can actually tell you exactly what spices they are.

For dessert (special occasions only), there is either doi (sweet yoghurt) or mishti (little milk and sugar-based tasty balls – a bit like condensed milk balls), both of which I have grown very fond of. And today I had a sweet vermicelli noodle dish which was delicious, and very unexpected. These people have extremely sweet teeth, and I am not complaining. Even the tea is made with condensed milk AND sugar (!). Nana would be appalled! One thing I have noticed about the sweet foods here (besides the fact that they are SO SO SO sweet) is that the time that they are most lovingly consumed is in the early evening, at about 6pm. I guess it makes sense, giving people a little sugar hit to get them through the evening before they hoe into their dinner at about 10pm.

The fruits are really great quality. Mango season has just begun and everyone is really excited about it. All over the place people are getting out their long sticks and knocking their “Pukka Ums” (Ripe Mangoes) out of their trees. In the past three days I’ve been given a total of 14 mangoes as gifts from people. Lychees are also being plucked from the trees, and Raju has told me that when we go to Dhaka this weekend, he is going to buy 100 of them!! There is also a new fruit I’ve never seen before. It looks like a baby pear, its skin has the colour and texture of a jalepeno pepper and the inside is like a nashi pear. It tastes like a cross between an apple and a lime. It’s quite wonderful. The watermelons taste like they used to when I was a kid. Pineapples would have to be my favourite though. They are the sweetest and yellowest (no turmeric!) I’ve ever eaten, and apparently pineapple season hasn’t even started properly yet. Can’t wait for those pukka anarosh to come along.

Most people here love food just as much as I do, and a lot of their socialising is centred around either tea or food. There is no alcohol, so I’m getting my kicks from sugar instead. The locals here are proud of their fruit, so much so that Sohel has organised for me to try every single fruit that Bangladesh has to offer by the time I leave. Fruit is also a very common gift and sentiment (vis a vis the abovementioned 14 mangoes), and you tend to get brownie points when you hand someone a bunch of lychees or a guava or whatever.

So I am definitely being looked after in the food department. If ever I get peckish, I can pretty much go and visit anyone and I will be guaranteed a munch on something delicious.