Arrays of savouries and sweet delights line the bustling streets of Kolkata, tantalizing the taste bud of locals and visitors for generations. Kolkata’s street food is not me rely a gastronomic delight, it’s also a journey through time and culture, encapsulating the city’s history, diversity and the indomitable spirit of its people.
The story of Kolkata’s street food traces back to the colonial era, when East India Company transformed the city into a commerce hub. With the influx of people from various corners of the world, a fusion of culinary traditions began to take shape and gave birth to the street food culture. The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the emergence of iconic street food items. The kathi roll, for instance, is believed to have originated at Nizam Restaurant around 1930s. It quickly gained popularity as a convenient and flavourful meal for officegoers and students. Peddlers selling kulfi was also a regular sight.
Every street corner is sure to have aphuchka wallah, dishing out spicy and tangy phuchkas to a huddle of customers or ajhalmuri wallah, mixing the modest muri with onion, tomatoes and spices. The neighbourhood tea stalls are forever brimming with people, discussing world affairs over milk tea or lemon tea in bhaars or kulhars. One of Kolkata’s oldest street food epicentres is Dacre’s Lane, a narrow stretch, sandwiched between colonial Calcutta’s office buildings. The chops, cutlets, sandwiches, stew an d juices have been satiating the hunger of office-goers for years. The oldest food stalls are not less than 80 years old, still making the same aromatic breakfast, snacks and lunch that were served by generations before them. Sitting on a wooden bench in front of a 72-year-old stall and savouring a stew, Canadian chef Bashir Munye said, “I have been sampling the spicy, hot food here all morning in the summer heat. Eating hot soup or stew like the one from Chitto Babur Dokan can help you stay hydrated. It replenishes fluids lost in the heat. ”
As you enter Dacre’s Lane, the smell of burning coal from earthen ovens, used to heat tea and fry snacks, wafts in. The earthen ovens continue to be an essential at almost every roadside stall, connecting modern Kolkata with the Calcutta a hundred years ago. Sandeep Ray, who owns a snacks stall, said, “My father and grandfather cooked here before me. We have maintained the same dishes and recipes over decades. ”
At the deepest crevice of the lane is a vegetarian food stall, running for 20 years. Despite the legacy of Kolkata as a non-vegetarian haven of cutlets, fish fries, rolls and biryanis, Tara Ma Stall is always teeming with customers. A visitor said, “This kind of non-spicy vegetarian food, which is light on the stomach, is ideal on an office day. The rotis and naans smell like my childhood. ”
About 2. 2km from Dacre’s Lane is Dalhousie, the office para, where a bustling hub of food stalls of diverse cuisines are lined around imposing, colonial commercial buildings. Tapan Das’s is the only Chinese stall in the area for about 30 years. Pointing out the challenges of preserving the street food heritage of Dalhousie, he said, “We sometimes struggle with people’s notion of lack of hygiene at our stalls. But food safety teams carry out inspections and the regulars who eat here daily do not get sick. ”
Owner of a 45-year-old stall, serving ‘egg-toast’, Shambhu Dholay added, “We don’t get much crowd on hot summer days and we lose sales. But otherwise, it gets chaotic, serving the steady stream of office-goers and tourists. ” Sukant Kumar, who shifted to Kolkata from UP about 6 months ago for work, said he ate at Dalhousie every morning and loved the bustling street food culture.
Although a summertime favourite, kulfis are a classic that remain in demand throughout the year. Singh’s Kulfi in front of Calcutta Stock Exchange has diversified its menu to keep up with the demands of the iced desert-loving customers. An assortment of chilled fruits, like mangoes, are cut and served as toppings. “My father started this stall in 1986,” said owner Brij Nandan Singh. Talking about innovation, Singh pointed at food trucks, serving twists to classic dishes.
Despite the rise of social media-friendly trends hitting the street food market, like Fanta-filled phuchka and Maggi pizza, the humble kathi rolls, chow mein, momos and Mughlai parathas remain the mainstay of quintessential Kolkata street food culture. They reflect a symbiosis of the city’s distinct culinary traditions.
From phuchka, jhalmuri and egg roll to momo, dosa, kebabs, cutlet, mutton stew and kachori, the ‘chefs’ on the streets rustle up dishes of various kinds, tantalizing the taste bud of locals and visitor
