Bengali's are perhaps the greatest food lovers
in the Indian
subcontinent. Rice and fish are their staple
diet. Many of Bengal's famous dishes are fish based items and they consider a meal incomplete without fish. Bengalis have a special seasoning called
'Panchphoran' which includes five spices - mustard, aniseed, fenugreek seed, cumin seed and
black cumin seed. The
garam masala is made up of cloves, cinnamon, cumin and coriander seeds, mace,
nutmeg, and big and small cardamoms. The principal medium of cooking is
mustard oil. A typical Bengali lunch or dinner will generally comprise of bhat
(rice), dal (lentils), tarkari (vegetables) and macher jhol (fish curry). No description of
Bengali food is complete without mentioning the
famous Bengali sweets like rasogolla, sandesh, mishti doi (sweet yogurt)
etc.
