Language Learning
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Food and Cooking
Bengali Cooking: Seasons and Festivals
This highly original book takes the reader into kitchens in both Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal by way of the seasons and religious and other festivals which have shaped the region's cooking. Chitrita Banerji offers her readers the wonderful recipes of Bengali home-cooking - dals, fish, vegetables and kedgerees - rather than the standard fare of Indian restaurants. Here is much more than a cookbook: it is also a vivid and deeply-felt introduction to the life, landscape and culture of the Bengali people.
The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles
Bengalis have been compared to the French in terms of food-obsessed peoples, as dining and entertaining are such an integral part of the culture. The book begins with a thorough introduction to Bengali culture and cooking, including sections on spices, ingredients, and equipment. Following are recipe chapters (incorporating a balance of traditional and contemporary recipes) on Rice & Breads, Lentils, Fried Vegetables and Fritters, Vegetarian First Courses, Vegetarian Entrees, Eggs, Fish, Chicken & Poultry, Meat Dishes, Chutneys & Relishes, Drinks & Snacks, and Desserts. Includes 180 easy-to-follow recipes, plus sections on spice pastes, spice blends, and essential tools, and sidebars with family anecdotes and historical and cultural information.
Transactions in Taste: the collaborative lives of everyday Bengali food
In a radical departure from previous ethnographies of food, this book asks how and why food is pivotal to social relations and forms of identity that emerge as normal and not-normal. It does so by describing the production, consumption, distribution, and disposal of 'normal Bengali food' in middle-class households that employ cooks from poor classes, and in Bengali restaurants, in contemporary Calcutta (India) and Dhaka (Bangladesh). In a rare comparative foray into Bengali Hindu and Muslim food-ways on both sides of the border, the book includes addas ('idle-talk') and interviews with both men and women. It initiates a dialogue that links issues of agency, place, hospitality, and ownership with a new field that places food as an 'artefact' at the centre of its inquiry. It invites the reader throughout to approach food afresh, as the key that unlocks the complexities of what is mundane yet profound -- the everyday. The book thus analyses the constant and fraught negotiations that feed into definitions of normality, class and identity in the deeply intimate yet intensely public domain of food. Food transactions here provide a window into shifting configurations of trust, power, and conflict integral to social relationships, shaped by events such as the 1943-44 Bengal famine, the 1947 partition of India, and the 1971 Bangladesh War.
Silk Road Vegetarian: Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten Free Recipes for the Mindful Cook
"Her first cookbook, Silk Road Vegetarian, ...is a thoughtful and delicious collection of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan recipes celebrating the foods of the Silk Road" --The Food Network Discover the secrets of healthy and sustainable eating that have been practiced along the trade routes of Asia for centuries. This unusual cookbook is filled with richly-flavored vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free recipes that will be a welcome change for any vegetarian or vegan to enjoy. Plus, most of these delicious recipes can be made using ingredients from your local Farmer's market or CSA share! Delicious vegetarian and vegan recipes include: Bengali Potato & Zucchini Curry Afghan Risotto Zucchini with Basil Vinaigrette Turkish Baked Eggplant with Mint Curried Lentil Burgers Israeli Chopped Salad Sesame Kale Salad And dozens more... Dishes from the Silk Road have their roots in the ancient village food traditions of Asia, where a few healthy ingredients from local gardens were blended with spices to create meals that are nutritious, varied and flavorful, as well as being ethical and sustainable. Author Dahlia Abraham-Klein is a food educator and nutritionist who draws from her own family heritage to create meals that honor what is most meaningful about cooking and food everywhere in the world--a connectedness to place, history and family. Her book is about developing culinary awareness and celebrating diversity--discovering foods with contrasting tastes and textures that are simple and easy to prepare, yet totally exciting and different. Silk Road Vegetarian delves into the cultural and spiritual traditions of the Silk Road to show how cultural traditions have influenced the cuisine. Each dish has a rich history--linking past to present in a particular place. At the same time, the recipes address pressing contemporary needs by showing us how to eat a healthy, balanced and yet interesting diet with locally-sourced, earth-friendly ingredients. The astonishing array of recipes in this book will inspire every home cook. All dishes are easy and simple to prepare, and codes are applied to identify which ones are: Vegetarian Vegan Gluten-free Try one of these recipes, and you'll agree that peoples living along the Silk Road created a unique culinary tradition that we have much to learn from today.
Delicious Bengali Dishes: Digitized Cookbook
Digitized cookbook from 1975.
In Adam Matthew's Food and Drink in History database.
The River Buriganga
Nasir Khan. (Photographer). (2015). Boats crossing the river Buriganga [digital image]. Retrieved from commons.wikimedia.org. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.
Bengali Music
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus (1940-...), a Bangladeshi banker, pioneered the idea of microcredit, in which small loans—typically in sums between $50 and $100—are made to poor people. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 along with the microcredit bank he founded, the Grameen Bank. Yunus continues to write and speak on microcredit as a way to reduce international poverty.
Yunus, Muhammad. (2018). In World Book Advanced. Retrieved from www.worldbookonline.com.
Facts in Brief
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh lies in southern Asia. Bangladesh was formerly East Pakistan, one of five provinces into which Pakistan was divided when the United Kingdom’s former Indian Empire was partitioned in 1947. The secession of East Pakistan from Pakistan in 1971 prompted a civil war that resulted in the establishment of the independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Bangladesh subsequently experienced lengthy periods of martial rule, and extreme instability under civilian rule. In 2001 Sheikh Hasina Wajed became the first Prime Minister to complete a five-year term of office. The Government of Khaleda Zia stepped down in October 2006, having also completed a full term. Following a two-year period of rule by a caretaker government, Sheikh Hasina gained a second term of office in January 2009 and secured re-election in January 2014 and December 2018. Parliamentary elections held in January 2024, at which Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League and its allies won almost all of the available seats, were marred by violence and allegations of electoral misconduct. In August, amid escalating civil unrest, Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country; President Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu dissolved Parliament and appointed Dr Muhammad Yunus as Chief Adviser, to lead an interim government. The capital is Dhaka. Bengali is the state language.
Bangladesh, in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Retrieved 21 January
2025 from https://utk.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01UTN_KNOXVILLE/bcmt7h/alma9917276380102311.
Agriculture
Agricultural Development in Bangladesh
The performance of the agricultural sector and other related areas of the economy of Bangladesh are assessed in this book, which includes descriptions and analyses of Bangladesh's natural and human resource bases; trends in agricultural input use and production of major crops; the agricultural marketing system; public sector interventions, organization, and financing; donor programs; and the agricultural research, extension, and educational systems. The authors identify positive factors contributing to sectoral growth and development as well as specific constraints to progress and conclude by offering an overall development strategy for achieving increased agricultural productivity, complete with specific policy and programming recommendations.
Community Based Adaptation in Action
Climate change threatens the food security of tens of millions of people, especially those living in least developed countries. Farmers and local communities must be supported in preparing themselves for the changing situations and protecting their livelihoods. Based on a case study in Bangladesh, this report provides a summary of approaches and processes undertaken to inform farmers about climate change and promote their local adaptation to strategies. It also presents the lessons learned, as well as good practice options identified and valued by farmers for drought risk management in the context of climate change.
Climate Change Risks and Food Security in Bangladesh
Managing climate variability and change remains a key development and food security issue in Bangladesh. Despite significant investments, floods, droughts, and cyclones during the last two decades continue to cause extensive economic damage and impair livelihoods. Climate change will pose additional risks to ongoing efforts to reduce poverty. This book examines the implications of climate change on food security in Bangladesh and identifies adaptation measures in the agriculture sector using a comprehensive integrated framework.First, the most recent science available is used to characterize current climate and hydrology and its potential changes. Second, country-specific survey and biophysical data is used to derive more realistic and accurate agricultural impact functions and simulations. A range of climate risks (i.e. warmer temperatures, higher carbon dioxide concentrations, changing characteristics of floods, droughts and potential sea level rise) is considered to gain a more complete picture of potential agriculture impacts. Third, while estimating changes in production is important, economic responses may to some degree buffer against the physical losses predicted, and an assessment is made of these. Food security is dependent not only on production, but also future food requirements, income levels and commodity prices. Finally, adaptation possibilities are identified for the sector. This book is the first to combine these multiple disciplines and analytical procedures to comprehensively address these impacts. The framework will serve as a useful guide to design policy intervention strategies and investments in adaptation measures.
