Cakes and Kolkata
Bengal develops a special craze for cakes during the Christmas season. The feverish urge to buy or bite into cakes and pastries peak on the 25th of December in front of every cake shop. The shops selling any other product, convert into cake shops during Christmas when one can see long and patient queues in front of popular bakers like Nahoum and Flurys.
Unlike the monopoly of the Iranian bakers in Hyderabad and Mumbai, Kolkata had a wider mix of Jewish, Portuguese, French, Italian and English bakers. Kolkata was once the capital of India and the second significant city after London. Most bakers were in and around Central Calcutta, around Park Street and Esplanade areas.
True to its tradition as a melting pot of various cultures, Calcutta offered various fares from the Europeans to the far-eastern cuisines. Kookie Jar is one of the popular chains in cakes and pastries and was founded by Lovey Burman. Sugarr and spice is owned by Supriya Roy, another successful women entrepreneur. The Bengali licensee of Mongini’s, chain restarted with a new brand Mio Amore, and there are hundreds of others spread around.
A Baghdadi Jew established Nahoum in 1902, and the Saldanha is also a hundred years old. Firpo’s and Frazzini’s of yesteryears still evoke nostalgia for many city elders. Calcutta had a unique club culture; many established a hundred years or earlier and all having commendable bakeries. The Calcutta Club, I guess, still boasts of the best-baked assortments. I ignore the star hotels which do have their bakeries and pastries shops.
Christmas cake making is a famous ceremony of sorts in Flurys, the legendary tea-room of Kolkata, which begins with the onset of the Christmas season. Giant mounds of flour, eggs and butter are mixed well on a huge table. The chef adds a mixture of raisins, cherries and cinnamon, baking soda, brown sugar, dried fruits, fruit essences, rum and brandy, and champagne. The mixture is said to be made months in advance to let the ingredients soak and give a spirited taste. The cake is sold within a few hours of the offer.
Cakes made by old families, like the Saldanha, are art and is passion driven. I buy cakes from the 80 years old Dolly Breen, another passionate cake maker of Kolkata, who has kept her magical recipes a guarded secret. Now she bakes a few pieces selectively, lamenting that her age is a bother. Her niece Michelle lends a hand.
To me, cakes represent the diversity of this country. The celebration is for the birth of Christ, the cake made by Jews and the Christians and Muslims and devoured by all including Hindus. The cake is sweet and has several wholesome ingredients and hidden delights, which represent the enjoyment of the season and its hidden thrills. As Kolkatans splurge in the cakes on the ‘Boro din,’ the long day, Christmas, the sentiment fortifies our plurality and inclusivity of all religions and Gods.
Merry Christmas to all! May the stars shower nothing but health, peace and prosperity for all.
Sampath Kumar