Lesson 4: Bangladeshi Cuisine

Key Words: cuisine, platter, molasses

A. Look at the pictures and discuss in pairs.

1. What do you see in the pictures?
2. Which foods are seen in the pictures? Do you prepare/eat them at home?
3. Of the four foods, which one is your favorite? Why?

B. Read the text below and answer the following true-false activity in section C.

Bangladeshi cuisine is rich and varied with the use of many spices. We have delicious and appetizing food, snacks, and sweets.

Boiled rice is our staple food. It is served with a variety of vegetables, curry, lentil soups, fish, and meat. Fish is the main source of protein. Fishes are now cultivated in ponds. Also, we have freshwater fishes in the lakes and rivers. More than 40 types of fishes are common. Some of them are carp, rui, katla, magur (catfish), chingri (prawn or shrimp). Shut or dried fishes are popular. Hilsha is very popular among the people of Bangladesh.

Panta ilish is a traditional platter of Panta bhat. It is steamed rice soaked in water and served with a fried hilsha slice, often together with dried fish, pickles, lentil soup, green chilies, and onion. It is a popular dish on the Pohela Boishakh.

The people of Bangladesh are very fond of sweets. Almost all Bangladeshi women prepare some traditional sweets. Pitha, a type of sweet made from rice flour, sugar, syrup, molasses, and sometimes milk, is a traditional food loved by the entire population. During winter, Pitha Utsab, meaning pitha festival, is organized by different groups of people.

Sweets are distributed among close relatives when there is good news like births, weddings, promotions, etc.

Sweets of Bangladesh are mostly milk-based. The common ones are rosgolla, sandesh, rasamalai, gulap jamun, kalo jamun, and chom-chom. There are hundreds of different varieties of sweet preparations. Sweets are therefore an important part of the day-to-day life of Bangladeshi people.

C. True or False? If false, give the correct information.

1. Our foods are rich because they have a lot of oil in them.
2. We get protein mostly from fish.
3. On Pohela Boishakh, the traditional food is steamed rice and fried hilsha.
4. Pitha Utsab takes place almost all year round in Bangladesh.
5. Sweets are not much appreciated by the people of Bangladesh.

D. Read the text in B again and answer the following questions.

1. What has made Bangladeshi food so special?
2. Where do we get the fishes from?
3. Apart from fish, what other foods do we eat with rice?
4. Why are sweets an important part of our life?

E. Discuss and answer the questions in pairs.

1. Describe a Bangladeshi food that you like best.
2. Make a list of the things you and your partner eat every day.
3. Make two lists of food, one eaten by the urban and the other by the rural people.
4. Why are there differences between the food eaten by the urban and the food eaten by the rural people?

F. How fast can you say this sentence?

Casual clothes are provisional for leisurely trips across Asia.