The staple diet of the Bengalis is rice and fish. A true Bengali will consider a meal incomplete without fish and celebrations are never done without a fish preparation. Mustard oil is the medium of cooking as it imparts a unique flavour and taste especially to the fish items. Fish is cooked in a variety of ways -steamed, fried and boiled with various spices for different flavours.

Mention Bengal and one is immediately reminded of the delicious sweets of the state — gulab jamun, rasagulla, sandesh, cham cham and many more. If Gujarat has a profusion of savoury items, Bengal matches it with its sweets. Made of milk and cottage cheese, these are light and delectable.

Coming to the food, the staple diet of the people of Bengal and Orissa includes rice and fish, especially fresh water fish. Even Brahmins of Bengal eat fish and no celebration is complete without it. The principal medium of cooking is mustard oil. A distinct flavour is imparted to the fish dishes by frying them in mustard oil before cooking them in gravy. Fish is also steamed by the Bengalis.

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.

Bengali's love literature, music, art, theatre and food in that order. Bengal's greatest contribution is the magnificent spectrum of sweets made from curdled milk (chenna), burnt milk (khoya), rasgullas, gulab jamuns, rasmalai and many more. Yes, you too can learn how to make them. They are time consuming and also require a lot of practice till you perfect the technique. Keeping this in mind, all the recipes are meticulously written to help you create these delightful mithais