Bengal - The Locavore

Books on Food

This Ethnography Highlights the People and Skill Behind Bengal’s Mishti

July 4, 2026
Ishita Dey

‘Sweet Excess: Crafting Mishti in Bengal’ by Ishita Dey was published by Routledge in 2026. Cover art by Sonali Chitrakar. Photo courtesy of Routledge.

How do we understand the knowledge required to make sweets? Ishita Dey’s book Sweet Excess discovers that it is an embodied knowledge, largely determined by caste- and class-realities.

View Post

Kata Chochori

March 30, 2026
Sohini Banerjee

This classic Bengali preparation transforms fish bones, head pieces, and fatty trimmings into a slow-cooked, flavourful, crisp-edged dish.

View Post

Date Palm

August 7, 2025
The Locavore Team

These succulent, often reddish-yellow fruits, offer a delightful crunch and a subtly sweet-and-tart taste.

View Post

From the Fields

Bringing Bengal’s Cherished Winter Jaggery to the World

January 18, 2024
Throvnica Chandrasekar

It’s in the peak of winter that the sap of the date palm trees is sweetest. Sharing their own memories of eating nolen gur in winter, the co-founders of Earth Story Farms talk to Throvnica Chandrasekar about making date palm jaggery, and its skilled makers.

View Post

Main Course

Biye Bari Shukto

January 18, 2024
Sienna Cafe

Sienna cafe shares their recipe for a staple 'bitters’ dish in Bengali cuisine. Traditionally eaten at the start of a meal, this biye bari shukto is nourshing and fragrant, with soft flavours that whet your appetite.

View Post

Producers

Earth Story Farms: Bengal’s Native Flavours

October 18, 2023
The Locavore Team

Based in the Segunsara village, around 200 kilometres from Kolkata, Earth Story Farms aims to bring urban consumers back to the traditional and earthy flavours of Bengal.

View Post

Main Course

Mourola Maach er Tok Jhal

October 5, 2023
Dolon Dutta Chowdhury

Dolon Dutta Chowdhury shares her mother’s version of Mourola Maach er Tok Jhal, her take on the traditional Bengali Tok – a light sweet-and-sour dish served towards the end of a Bengali meal.

View Post

Food Memories

‘Being a father transformed my relationship to food and cooking’

September 26, 2022
The Locavore Team

Moving across continents makes everyday practices such as cooking and feeding much more self-conscious, Krishnendu Ray tells us. A renowned food studies scholar, Ray talks to us about his changed perception of cooking, parenting, and his Didu’s jaggery-sweetened moorki.

View Post