What to eat during Durga Puja in Kolkata

Food is half of Durga Puja. Every big pandal has a lane of stalls around it, the restaurants stay open late, and for many families the menu changes day by day through the festival.

Street food near the pandals

• Phuchka: hollow puris filled with spiced potato and tamarind water. The quintessential queue snack.
• Rolls: egg, chicken or mutton wrapped in a flaky paratha, Kolkata’s own street food and at its best late at night.
• Mughlai paratha: a stuffed, fried paratha, filling enough to count as dinner.
• Fish fry and chops: crumbed fish and vegetable or meat croquettes, with kasundi mustard.
• Ghugni and jhalmuri: spiced dried peas and puffed-rice mix, cheap, quick and everywhere.

Bhog

Many pujas cook bhog, the food offered to the goddess and then shared, and Ashtami is when it matters most. The classic is khichuri, rice and lentils cooked together, with labra (mixed vegetables), a fried vegetable and chutney. Some community pujas serve bhog to visitors; ask at the puja, and expect to queue.

Ashtami: often vegetarian

Many Bengali families eat vegetarian on Ashtami, after the morning anjali, and then make up for it on Navami, which for many households means mutton. Restaurants plan their menus around this, so expect queues for luchi and alur dom on Ashtami morning.

Sweets

Sandesh, rosogolla and mishti doi are everywhere, and Bijoya Dashami is the day for them: visiting relatives and friends with a box of sweets is part of the Bijoya greeting.

Eating well on a long night

• Eat before the big queues, not after: an hour in line on an empty stomach is the fastest way to end the evening early.
• Choose busy stalls with fast turnover, and carry water.
• Keep some cash. UPI usually works, but the network near big pandals can fail.

• Places to eat near every pandal →
• Plan a route with food stops →