Delectably yours—Jews and Bengalees

Today, only about 20 Jewish descendants of the original Baghdadi Jews remain in Kolkata. But there is one thing that may be able to preserve the legacy of this unique community: food. The gradual fusion of Bengali and Jewish cuisines over the centuries included assimilating Judaism’s strict dietary laws with Indian culinary techniques.A new restaurant, ‘Calcutta Stories’, set up in 2016 aimed to draw attention to Kolkata’s Jewish heritage. Calcutta Stories tried to pique the city’s interest in the migrant cuisines of Kolkata’s roots, including Jewish, Parsi, and Armenian Indo-fusions. Owned by a Bengali couple, the Jewish section of the menu was crafted by 86-year-old Flower Silliman, who has been chronicling Jewish-Calcuttancuisine through cookbooks in a bid to preserve an essential part of the community’s culture. Silliman was born in Calcutta, where she lived for about half her life before moving to Israel and, later, to the US to live with her children. She recounted how her grandmother was a very innovative cook and used to make a delicious jam with the pith of pomelos, and even though the fruit tasted bitter, the jam wasn’t. It was her way of combining the cooking techniques of the Middle East—she was from Basra—with what was available in India. Over time, Middle Eastern culinary traditions began to merge with Indian ones, creating a unique flavor profile. The most popular Jewish-Calcuttan dish within the Jewish community is probably alumakallah which came about apparently because two Bengali and Jewish housewives were neighbors! Believed to have been inspired by the chopped fried potatoes that are indispensable throughout West Bengal, alumakallah is made by peeling whole potatoes, pricking them all over with a fork, and deep-frying them in oil with salt and turmeric. Having trained as a nutritionist, Silliman’s interest and expertise in Indian food led her to open the world’s first kosher non-vegetarian Indian restaurant, Maharaja, in Israel in the 1970s.  Silliman hired a cook from India and decorated the restaurant with classical paintings to make it as authentically Indian as possible, and ran it successfully for around eight years.Silliman retained the “Indian-ness” of the food at Maharaja without combining it with local flavors. Jewish food was blander and lighter in the deserts of the Middle East, but it became spicier and fuller when the Baghdadi Jews came to India. New ingredients and access to fresh greens made unique interpretations of standard dishes possible. For example, Jewish households in Kolkata added fresh ginger—which isn’t available in the desert—to hilbeh, a green chutney traditionally prepared with fenugreek seeds, garlic, lemon juice, coriander, and green chilies. Some versions also added mint leaves and/or parsley.Coconut milk became a valuable substitute for dairy. Freshwater fish was a staple in every household, thanks to the abundant lakes and rivers in the state. A common stew was made by flaking fried fish into boiling coconut milk with fresh coriander and chilies. Tamarind also began to appear in some traditionally Jewish dishes, such as chitanee, which is a sweet-and-sour chicken preparation. Jews and Bengalees of Calcutta thus started sharing their food and ways of life in myriad creative ways.