How caste, religion and history shape traditional Bengali sweets

Bengali mishti, or sweets, are innately tied to the region’s cultural identity, celebration, and daily life. A new book, Sweet Excess: Crafting Mishti in Bengal by Ishita Dey, examines the industry and its history through the lens of caste, religion, science, and law. “This geography that has witnessed famine and food movements, yet has never lost its passion for mishti,” she says. The book was written after her travels and research in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Ahead of her talk at Bengaluru’s Champaca Bookstore on May 30, we catch up with her for an interview.

Author Ishita Dey

Ishita is an assistant professor at South Asian University in New Delhi, and the scope of her research and interests include food, labour and senses. Hailing from Bengal, she grew up in different cities in the State before living in Kolkata, and remembers how sweets were an important part of family life. “I grew up in Bandel Thermal Power Township in Triveni in Hooghly District till I turned 15. One of my favourite sweets was piping hot rosogolla from a local sweetshop in Tribeni. It has a melt-in-the-mouth effect. Our ancestral house is in Kolkata and during our weekly visits, we would stopover at Putiram, Bhimmnag, and Deshbondhu (well-known sweetshops) and pick up signature mishti on our way home.”

Published byRoutledge, Sweet Excess is an academic undertaking into the culture, complete with data, figures and maps. “The work is based on a decade-long journey (2010 – 2018) of observing sweet-making in shops in select district towns of West Bengal (Chandannagore, Hooghly and Krishnanagar, Nadia district) and Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. I studied the histories of sweetness and labour in the archives of caste association newsletters, recipe books, and newspapers to offer a post-colonial reading of sweetness.”

It begins with her visit to Dhaka in December 2017, where she learns about folk beliefs and superstitions around confectionery. She goes into detail about how sweets cannot be put into the categories of luxury or necessity, essential or non-essential, as they are so ubiquitous. Milk production, climate and bovine species have all shaped the sweets we eat. For example, in the summers of east India, is hard to store fresh milk as it splits. So, you will see a lot of sweets made from chhana or coagulated milk; most famously the sandesh and the rosogulla.

Bogurar Doi being made in Bangladesh
| Photo Credit:
Ishita Dey

Caste and religion

In North India, it is the halwai caste who make the sweets. “In Bengal, historically mayaras (also spelt as mayra, maira, or moira) are associated with sweet making. Take any famous sweet such as jalbhara sandesh (sandesh with a scented liquid filling) or the monohora, all legends revolve around mayaras.” The book touches on historical events, such as how the introduction of refined sugar resulted in closure of indigenous sugar mills, and it affected the community. “In Chapter 3 I discuss in these caste associations in great detail, their close ties with the legends of origin and despite the populism of the craft, the social disdain that the mayaras faced,” Ishita explains. Apart from mayaras, there are many Muslim families who were traditionally associated with sweet making. “I write about one such family who ran a successful sweetshop in Natore. In Bangladesh, Ghosh’s (is this the name of a sweet shop?) enjoy mythic status similar to mayaras.”

At the event in Champaca, the author will be in conversation with Elizabeth Yorke, a chef and food systems researcher.

The book discussion is on May 30, 6.30 PM. At Champaca Bookstore, Indiranagar, Bengaluru. To register, head to champaca.in