Mumbai-based TISS alumnus and home chef Priyadarshini Gupta’s grandmother, Khirod-Bashini Gupta or amma as she calls her, passed away before she could get a chance to cook with her. However, she vividly remembers watching her whip up delicacies in the kitchen at their Dover Lane home in Kolkata, in the mid-70s. “She would make different kinds of sweets for us on an unon (stove). Food has been my passion since I was a child. All the recipes that I learnt were my amma’s, handed down to me by my ma (mother) and boroma (my aunt). She’s my inspiration,” confides Gupta. Originally from Dhaka, Bikrampur, Gupta grew up on East Bengali culture and cuisine, which she would refer to as ‘O par Bangla’ (Bengal on the other side).

Bengali meal