The panchami food fiesta…Anandomela #bloggersdurgapujo

If you have had a Bengali friend or if you have grown up in Kolkata, irrespective of whether you are a Bengali or not, you would know how important food is in a bengali’s life.  Like my mother-in-law jokes on weekends…shokale uthlei khawar chinta (your mornings begin with planning out the menu for the day).

So, it’s a no brainer that the biggest festival of a khaddo Roshik (food connoisseur) bengali will definitely be about food and lots of it. Infact one of the major differentiator between Durga Pujo in Kolkata and Delhi, specifically C R Park, is about the food.

Now Durga Pujo is a community pujo, where people come together to celebrate.  The importance of it multiplies especially for the probashi bengali, those staying outside Bengal. This is that time of the year when they look for that slice of life that they have left behind, that time of the year when they want to tell their children who we are. When Tagore, nostalgia and biriyani (including a large piece of aalu and deem) fill the air around.

So most of these probashi bengali pujos are characterised by cultural programs, where children with broken bengali, recite abol tabol with élan; probably the only time of the year when the little tot painstakingly befriends Ray and Tagore.

What else you ask? Oh, come one…you know us by now…. the food!

Food stalls and Pujo Pandals go hand in hand. Afterall as one goes hopping from one pandal to another, you do need all that food to keep up the energy, right? But what’s special about the C R Park pujos is the Anandomelas. It’s a been long off tradition, no one knows where or how it started, but its now part of the festivities. In fact, the festival is kicked off with an Anandomela. Most pujo pandals, on panchami (which the day before the pujo starts) organise this food fiesta where people get home cooked food to sell at the pandal.  And it isn’t just for fun, it means serious business, because there is a panel of judges who taste the food and declare the winners!

So today being panchami, post a light lunch of begun posto, daal, bhaat and mach bhaja I was off to savour some delicious food at the Anandomela at two of  CR Park Pujo Pandals.

Statutory warning: might lead to some major cravings!!

Anandomela at B Block puja grounds

Had some great fusion food at The Bong Sindhi Association – Chinese posto bread was yum!

The stalls were beautifully done up! Even the menu was interesting, like the 2nd stall serving egg samosas (unfortunately they were over) . Little volunteers helping their mums

A European twist to Indian desserts!

The Keema Doi Bora, a recipe from Thakur Bari! It was so delicious I forgot to take pictures…

A supercrowded Anandomela @ Co-operative pujo grounds…do you need anymore proof of our food fetish?

Okay now I must sign off, got an early start tomorrow with the Probhat Pheri at 5 am…more on the C R Park Pujos tomorrow….

This Durga Pujo follow me and my fellow bloggers as we take you on a journey into the heart and soul of the Durga Pujo celebrations! Read, Comment, and Share and don’t forget to follow the hashtag #bloggersdurgapujo

List of Participating Bloggers

Dr. Amrita Basu (Misra): https://healthwealthbridge.com

Anupriya Gupta: https://hehttp://www.mommytincture.comalthwealthbridge.com

Esha Chakraborty: https://bookhippo.wordpress.com

Indrani Ghose: https://isharethese.com

Kapila Rattan Bhowmik: http://www.everylittlethinghappiness.com

Dr. Kuheli Bhattacharya: http://www.thefoodietrails.com

Moumita Sen: https://www.socialconnoisseursblog.com

Nehal Roy: http://www.easyhomeremedies.co.in

Paromita Biswas: https://goodtimestrails.com

Rahul Basu: https://bongfooodie.com

Sayanti Mahapatra: http://bingeonbasics.com

Shalini Magdel Das: http://lostloveadventure.com/

Shamik Byabartta: http://www.mixedflavorsblog.com

Sharmishtha S Ghosh: https://letstalkjhaalmishti.wordpress.com

Shruti Dugar: http://webofwords.in

Siya Bose: https://bestylechic.wordpress.com

Sonali Chauhan: https://sonalichauhanreviews.wordpress.com

Sonia Chatterjee: https://soniasmusings.com

https://happilyfoodies.wordpress.com/

Vasundhara Sarkar: http://thesassyshimmer.blogspot.com