Celebs announce a lit fest highlighting the legacy of Bengali mishti

A galaxy of celebs converged on a city heritage hotel to unveil the World's First Literature Festival on Mishti in Kolkata.
The guest list had names like actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, Raima Sen, Moon Moon Sen, Anupam Roy, Anik Dutta, Arindam Sil and others. The three-day festival is set to take place in the city from December 9-11 this year and boasts to be one of the largest gatherings of writers, historians, food aficionados, stalwarts from the world of cinema and theatre and Kolkatans from across the globe for whom mishti is an intrinsic part of their DNA.

To be spread across 10 venues that will bring together some of Kolkata's iconic addresses - bonedi bari, art galleries and modern institutions - each venue will also for the first time have the world's longest tables of mishti spread with over 60 varieties.

The festival is the brainchild of India-Canadian Lahana Ghosh, who belongs to the family of a 99-year old iconic sweet shop in the city. She decided to give up her cushy job in Vancouver to return to her roots in Kolkata and give the mishti industry here the respect it deserves.

Lahana said, "Not only will it be the first literary fest on mishti in the world but the first ever literary fest on food. Food and mishti are the only medium through which we do not see discrimination. An American white man enjoys Indian food just the way a brown Indian man enjoys burgers and fries. When we eat biryani we do not see the origin of the food, or the religion of the person who made it. Food is the only thing we do not hesitate to consume regardless of its history or religious influences, or the community that made it. The goal of this festival is to start the conversation on how different cultures have influenced our food, our sustenance and how we have accepted and incorporated those influences in our eating habits without any complaint.”

So how important has mishti been in literature and the folklore of India, we asked her. "Mishti has been a part of our culture for thousands of years. For instance, the earliest reference of Malpuya, a deep fried pancake soaked in sugar syrup, goes back 3,500 years to the Rig Veda that calls it ‘apupa’. Over the centuries, apupa incorporated many more cultural influences and was embraced by different faiths. A version of this dessert, with eggs and mawa, was a popular sweet in Islamic courts. In Odisha’s famous Jagannath temple at Puri, malpua is still the early morning offering to Lord Jagannath. This tradition dates back to 1,200 AD. The birth of the modern day Bengali mishti, which is completely chenna based, was only possible because of the Portuguese settlers. They introduced cheese making techniques through the use of curdled milk and us Bengalis have incorporated that technique in our quintessential sandesh and rasgulla," she adds.
While Oiendrila Ray Kapur, is the creative director of the festival, Kounteya Sinha is the director of the festival. Interdisciplinary artiste Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee who was also present at the do, said, “Mishti is an integral part of our culinary heritage and I am glad this literary fest shall only enhance its global acceptance.”
A few noted personalities who have also come forward to join hands with the organisers of the festival and be a part of include Hollywood's chef and OTT platform star, Asma Said Khan. India's only woman foreign secretary who was also India's ambassador to Pakistan, China and the US, Nirupama Rao, revered food anthropologist and Canadian writer Dr Colin Taylor Sen, Padmashri and noted historian Pushpesh Pant, Oxford University professor Dr Kunal Basu, Founder of India Festival in Sweden, Sanjoo Malhotra, popular artist Jogen Choudhury and former Culture Secretary of India, Jawhar Sarkar.