Bengalee Muslims cannot imagine their iftar without jilapi during Ramadan. In other seasons it remains almost non-existent in our collective memory. When Ramadan comes, we suddenly wake up from oblivion and start caressing this food item. The blasphemy of mixing jilapi with puffed rice and other iftar items divides the fasting nation. This unholy alliance is eulogized and practiced by some fusion enthusiasts. This transgression is considered by some a welcome inclusion while for others it is a pure breach of food decorum. Some people wonder how one can mix something sweet with spicy items and enjoy the meal. Meanwhile, divergence goes on like any other topic of contention. Some even go to the extreme limits of mixing bananas and biriyani with the infamous dough.
In some parts of Pakistan, Jilapi mixed with milk is a delicacy. To Bangladeshis, it would be a strange combination, but to Pakistanis, it is very popular. People love to come up with new matches for food lovers. If they click, they persist, and if they do not, they fade away. Strange bedfellows get familiar with each other until their early demise or apparent immortality as a dish.
Culinary creativity is the human expression of experimental imagination. Every mixed food item was once a newcomer to the food scene. When someone mixes red lentils and yellow mung beans with rice, no one is surprised by such a union because it has become normalized as a dish. Some experiments are very hard to accept as a complete dish. My olfaction and taste buds say that mustard oil used to cook beef tahari ruins the entire endeavour. But many others cannot imagine this dish without the use of this oil. Everyone seems to forget that tahari once was cooked without the invasive mustard oil.
When biriyani was first introduced people were surprised to learn about the friendship of meat and rice cooked or mixed resulting in either kacchi or pakki. When a newly combined item gains currency it no longer remains a strange encounter but becomes a sought-after dish. When the new generation gets older, their fondness of erstwhile pariah food items becomes the major trend evaporatingthe strangeness. But Biriyani with basmati rice is a complete failure because it only tastes good with chinigura rice.
One famous cook in Bangladesh is renowned for her dishes with noodles. Some unique items that she prepared in a television show include eggplant noodles, noodles pickles, noodles and sago payesh, noodles shawarma, mashed noodles,noodles vegetable fritters, bottle gourd leaf noodles, and noodles sharbat. People make fun of her whenever someone thinks of any item prepared with noodles.
Sometimes we come to know about some interesting dishes. I once encountered a dish called beef payesh on social media. I was utterly shocked to discover this innovative fusion. I never felt that I should try this at least once at home. It could be like some dangerous sport that we should not try at home.And some of us are appalled to find peanuts inside shingara. We wonder what on earth peanuts are doing inside the triangular snack. This unpalatable item ruins the taste of shingara.
On social media, I came across an item called betel leaf ice cream. The mixture of betel leaf and ice cream may seem an impossible rapprochement, but this has become a reality. Some people try the item to unearth the extreme limits of innovation. The symbolic union of alien items makes us ponder over violent gastronomy. Whether this will be short-lived or win the popular taste buds will depend on the flow of time.
Some alliances are normalized through repeated practice. Molida in Barishal is a unique fusion item where puffed rice, milk, ginger, coconut flakes, and jaggery are mixed to make a refreshing drink. Tomato chop is a new item for fried food lovers. Pithali prepared with rice powder and meat in Jamalpur and Sirajganj is a fusion item that has withstood the test of time. In Faridpur,the Biriyani chop was invented by one guy to attract potential customers. His innovative item was embraced by local food lovers with open arms. Sometimes, it seems that the sky is the only limit to producing portmanteau food items.
In India, coke omelet is tried by many food lovers for the pure desire to explore something new. The imagination of combining Coke with egg is apparently beyond the scope of human comprehension. But the experimentation of mixing soft drinks with eggs is the manifestation of thinking the unthinkable. People do it with this belief that food lovers will throng the street food stalls in huge numbers.
Pizza in Italy is prepared with eggplant and pumpkin blossom, which is unthinkable in Bangladesh. In our country, we can only prepare pizza with meat and capsicum to pamper the local tastebuds. Hawaiian pizza is prepared with pineapple to help us wonder about the human capability to create new and uncanny combinations.
Horse meat in recent times has become an available item because of the high price of beef. For Bangladeshis, it is a new experience because, from the Islamic point of view, it is not haram or prohibited. As pork is outside the Muslim foodscape,horse meat tries to find a wide way into the pantry. Although shark meat is eaten in Oman it is rarely entertained in Bangladesh. Bangladeshis are found to consume string rays, but they steer clear of shark meat.
Swiftlet bird nest soup is another very expensive food item due to the unique structure made by the bird'ssticky saliva. It is believed to be helpful for the proper growth of the child and the treatment of cancer. In Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar,bird apartments have been built to harvest swiftlet bird nests. Amid holy or unholy fusion, omnivorous humans continue their culinary excursion in the thicket of millions of convertible food items.
The writer is an Anthropologist and a faculty member at Independent University Bangladesh (IUB)
