A Walk Down Memory Lane with Gormei Mother of Feasts

Durga Puja in West Bengal is as much about faith as it is about food. But last year, when the pandemic situation compelled everyone to cut down on the revelries, a Hong Kong based food and travel consultancy, Gormei, stepped in to ease the pains. Founded by&nbspArgha&nbspSen (the HK-based founder and CEO who got stuck in the city owing to the ban on international travel), the brand collaborated with noted food historian and chef Pritha Sen and other reputed professional as well as home chefs to build different menus showcasing the last 10 decades of Kolkata's culinary influences, and home deliver it across the city.

It was a huge success, especially among the NRIs, who wanted to gift gourmet meals to their parents, family members or friends in the city since most avoided going out, said Argha Sen. Riding on its initial success, Gormei has moved from one festival to another, creating pop up dining experiences and secret dinners in between.

This year too, Gormei, under the name Gormei Mother of Feasts (since here people tend to call the 10-handed goddess Ma or mother) is offering specially curated home delivery meals as well as hosting pop up dining experiences at boutique locations for a limited number of guests. &ldquoWe are keeping the number of people restricted to ensure all hygiene protocols are maintained,&rdquo said Argha Sen.

The home delivery menu is an interesting mix of legacy and cuisine. There will be daily &lsquoPujobari Feasts&rsquo, party sets and a &lsquoMela Snack Box&rsquo by Bibi and Joyee Sarkar, heritage &lsquoSaheb Para&rsquo feasts by Moby&rsquos Larder, &lsquoPujo Jashn&rsquo by Sima Ahmed, etc.

The pop up dining experiences will be themed on various culinary aspects, such as recreating feasts from early 20th century Calcutta for one, tracing a chef&rsquos journey from Yemen to India for another, and even a 100 percent vegetarian lunch reflecting the emerald ethos of Bengal cuisine.

Curated by Pritha Sen, the 20^th&nbspcentury Calcutta menu has been named &lsquoThe High Table&rsquo and will be held on October 9 and 10, where you will get a chance to enjoy &lsquofine dining European gastronomy that underwent a transformation in the hands of French chefs, the famed Mog cooks and Muslim bawarchis, leading to some timeless classics&rsquo as explained by her. You can expect rare dishes such as &lsquoThe Mog Cook&rsquos Smoked Fish&rsquo (fillet of bhetki smoked with rustic Bengal ingredients, a technique learnt from the Portuguese), an heirloom dish called &lsquoBirdwan Stew&rsquo (fish, flesh and fowl slow cooked in a hearty meat broth with chillies and wine), or Quails Darjeeling (quails stuffed with chicken liver, flavoured with bacon and herbs and finished with fine Darjeeling tea reduction) among others.

"I sincerely believe that the entire concept of 'global cuisine' that the world is now buzzing with began in Bengal with traders, migrants, explorers and conquerors, all embracing each other&rsquos gastronomy to create an assimilation that has no parallel in history,&rdquo said Pritha Sen.

&ldquoThe 100 years that spanned the late second half of the 19th and the first 70 years of the 20th century, was the golden period of this culinary fusion, with Bengal being the melting pot. I am doing two distinct menus that showcase such assimilations,&rdquo she said.   

The venue for &lsquoThe High Table&rsquo, Moby&rsquos Larder, is equally interesting. It is located inside Z&rsquos Precinct, a 1930s south Calcutta townhouse restored through private enterprise, and converted to a fine art gallery and a museum shop.

Another interesting pop up dining experience lined up is the &lsquoPearl, Silver and Gold - the Awadhi Soldiers&rsquo Dinner&rsquo. It is curated by Gormei and traces the journey of Chef Sima Ahmed's family, over hundreds of years, from the Hadramut province of Yemen to various parts of India eventually, they settled down in Faizabad the ancient capital of Awadh and later in Kolkata.  Some of the dishes likely to be served are &lsquoShaami Shikhampur&rsquo, &lsquoRaan Saalim&rsquo and &lsquoDesi Murgh Ka Shorba&rsquo.

&lsquoShaami Shikhampur&rsquo (meaning &lsquobelly full&rsquo) is an ancient exotic kabab, stuffed with market fresh vegetables and Chef Ahmed&rsquos secret spice mix, these are brushed with butter, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and charcoal smoked tableside. &lsquoRaan Saalim&rsquo consists of roasted leg of lamb carved tableside and served with lamb &lsquoyakhni&rsquo broth. &lsquoDesi Murgh ka Shorba&rsquo is a chef's special dish consisting of country chicken and potatoes in a golden sauce, drizzled with birista onions and almond flakes. 

The Emerald Table, also curated by Pritha Sen, is an all-vegetarian, one-of-a-kind tasting menu showcasing the repertoire of Bengal. &ldquoIt is a pure vegetarian menu that came out of Bengali kitchens showcasing its spectacular green repertoire that few are aware of,&rdquo said Sen. &ldquoLike I said, being a forerunner in the arena of global cuisine, the menu draws on the region's varied techniques and styles, some indigenous, some adopted -- from roasting to charring, smoking to steaming, roulades and relishes and varieties of heirloom rice and lentil art.&rdquo

So there may be a &lsquoBengal Mezze Platter&rsquo consisting of Popped Rice Fritters, artisanal Goyna Bori, Bandel Cheese P&acircté, Red Pumpkin Relish, and more. Or may be a &lsquoAnanda Khichuri&rsquo made with Bengal heirloom Radha Tilak rice &lsquoKamala Kaliya&rsquo, a gravy dish made from the season's first cauliflower and fresh oranges or &lsquoBeguner Ullash&rsquo, eggplants in a tamarind sauce.

For the home delivery menu, the private pop up dining experiences and their dates, and mandatory advance booking, check here.