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He na janaave sadharan, anna brahma roop jaan. Thus spake Saint Gyaneshwar of Maharashtra.

Food is splayed all over our screens and social media feeds come election days. In 2026, three crucial states in India went to polls and the food grown, cooked and consumed in each region is all over news bulletins.

The latest in the chain are the foods of Bengal. Maachhh (fish), bhaat (cooked rice) mangsho (red meat with a hint of buff) and last but not the least, the snack of the aam Bengali Babu, Jhalmuri, a mouthwatering mix made with puffed riced, spiced with green chillies, onions and many kinds of add-ons with a hint of pungent mustard oil. Not for the faint hearted lovers of Satvik food in the West.

Rice, the most consumed anna in the country, came to India millions of years ago as a large chunk of earth – Gondvana Land drifted towards the subcontinent and attached itself to its ample hips. Initially, it was a wild aquatic grass but soon farmers began experimenting with it all along the coastal areas. Prime among the innovators was the fertile area of Bengal. 

According to the Shoonya Puran, by medieval ages, Bengal was growing 50 varieties of rice, acquiring the name ‘Shasya Shyamala’ (a green land of paddy fields). Muri or puffed crisp rice, went on to become a popular snack in Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. In Tamil it is called pori and used as both a wayside sweet snack and a savoury munchy. 

It was around the late 90s that our TV anchors and reporters took to visiting street side kiosks or push carts........

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