Steamboats, Spices, And Stories: Exploring India's Riverine Culinary Heritage

In the days of the Grand Mughals, travelling upstream from the suba of Bengal to Delhi via Murshidabad, Rajmahal, Patna, Benaras, and Allahabad took over two months. The journey was fraught with hazards—treacherous currents, tides, submerged obstacles, and inclement weather. Yet, it remained preferable to the land route, which was even more perilous due to wild beasts and bandits lurking in the dark.

Wealthy travellers made the journey on beautifully decorated wooden boats or large, flat-bottomed barges propelled by sails and able-bodied oarsmen. They arranged for hot meals on board to sustain themselves during the long voyage. Cooks and their helpers stocked up on provisions before embarking, supplementing dry rations with fresh vegetables and meat whenever they docked near a city.

The advent of British rule and their growing influence in India brought dramatic changes. Following a survey by Capt. James Prinsep, regular steamer services began in the mid-19th century. Steam-driven paddleboats revolutionised travel, cutting the journey time to 20 days. In 1947, ICS officer James Johnston detailed the birth and evolution of steamer services in Eastern India. The first steamers, about 120 feet long with a 22-foot beam and engines of 40 to 90 horsepower, could reach speeds of up to 7 mph. In those days, the same steamer never carried both passengers and goods—passengers travelled in an "accommodation boat" towed behind the steamer.

The journey between Calcutta and Dacca seamlessly combined trains and steamers. Goalundo, at the junction of the Padma and Brahmaputra rivers, was a crucial hub, connecting railway stations at Narayanganj and Chandpur and steamer services to Madaripur, Barisal, Sylhet, and Cachar. Steamers plied daily up the Padma to Digha Ghat in the dry season and Buxar in the rains. These steamers featured cabins with carpets, comfortable sofas, and Venetian blinds. A large deck allowed passengers to enjoy the scenery as the boat glided. As the 1913 handbook for the Eastern Bengal Railways said, "To visit Bengal without travelling on the great rivers would be almost as bad as going to Agra without seeing the Taj Mahal."

The Influence Of Colonial Cuisines

These luxurious steamers, out of reach for most Indians, were often used by high-ranking British officers for official tours and hunting excursions. The kitchens and pantries were well-equipped, and the menu in the "steam train dining hall" became increasingly refined and elaborate. Serampore was under Dutch control and Chandernagore under the French, so their culinary influences naturally found their way onto the boats moored at these jetties.

Although the Danish Trading Company had set foot in India in 1616, it took six decades to establish settlements in Serampore. By then, the town of Qasim Bazar had emerged as the region's largest silk yarn producer. Danish food, based on locally available ingredients such as cabbage, root vegetables, rye bread, fish, and pork, was adapted by cooks on the steamers. They prepared mutton chops, curried mince, fowl and braised cutlets, and devilled eggs. The Portuguese influence survived in Bandel cheese, which was improved by the Danish penchant for smoking. This cheese could be crumbled on toast or used in salads.

Mog cooks from Arakan, of Burmese descent, expertly handled pork and beef, shaping "steamer cuisine" by blending European flavours with local ingredients. Their dishes catered to both European travellers and wealthy Indians on upper decks, as well as immigrant labourers below.

The Legacy Of Steamer Cuisine

Goalondo Chicken Curry, also known as Fowl Boat Curry, was as legendary as Railway Mutton Curry and Dak Bungalow Roast. This rustic dish, prepared with minimal ingredients—chicken, ginger, garlic, onion, a handful of chillies, and a generous amount of mustard oil—was simple yet bursting with robust flavours. The thin, watery gravy paired well with steamed rice. Shrimp paste was a crucial ingredient that added depth to the dish. Other favourites included smoked and baked hilsa/bhekti and patheras (deep-fried crepes filled with spicy mince).

The Dutch, French, and Danes had established small colonial outposts in Bengal before the British ultimately outmanoeuvred them. As European officials and princely zamindars travelled up and down the Ganga, they enjoyed familiar yet exotic fare. Some of these culinary traditions survived even after Partition in 1947, served in the first-class dining rooms in Bangladesh. Paddle steamers like MV Mahsud, which plied the Buriganga River from Dhaka to Khulna over 350 km, remained a preferred mode of travel for decades.

While the luxurious boats catered to the elite, another class of passenger steamers ferried immigrant workers—tea garden labourers, railway line builders, and skilled professionals such as clerks, teachers, doctors, and shopkeepers. The hybrid recipes that evolved on these boats had a lasting allure. They blended coconut milk, fresh herbs like coriander and basil, and spices like turmeric, chilli peppers, and mustard seeds. These flavours became addictive and iconic, shaping the culinary landscape of Bengal.

Some of these delicious relics of a forgotten age continue to be served in old clubs in Calcutta, where they evoke nostalgia for the golden era of steamer travel.

Pushpesh Pant is an Indian academic, food critic and historian

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