Christmas celebrated with Jewish cakes, other delicacies

As the Yuletide spirit swept the City of Joy today, memories about the once-flourishing Jews community in Kolkata were revived when revellers gorged on yummy Israeli dishes and cakes.
No Christmas in Kolkata is complete without the trademark plum and rich fruit cakes of the iconic Nahoum's confectionery at New Market.
Set up in 1902 by Nahoum Israel, a Jew who had come to Kolkata from Baghdad, is the only bakery in the city which sells 'Kosher' foods that conform to the regulations of Jewish dietary law.
Like every year, there were long queues outside the iconic shop since morning to taste the delicacies.

Celebrating the rich and 200-year-old history of the Jews community in India, the Kolkata Christmas Festival came up with Israeli food fest in the city's entertainment hub of Park Street.
As the entry of motor vehicles was banned on the road in the evening, revellers and party-goers moved around freely and tinkled their taste buds with Israeli food at the street mela which had Christmas carols, choir, rock music and shimmering lights.

Some of the mouthwatering delicacies included 'Schnitzel' made of crumb fried chicken steaks served with Jewish salads and mustard sauce. Latkes, pan fried potato pancakes served with mustard sauce, were also a hit.

At the dessert counter, 'Rugelach', crunchy rolled pastry topped with nuts and 'Sufganiyat', cream-filled doughnuts, were part of gastro delights.
"Jewish cuisine is difficult to define as one entity. As people who have been uprooted time and again, the Jewish diaspora has meant that there is a multitude of regional food styles," Supriyo Nandy of the Society for Rejuvenation of Park Street Kolkata (Spark), the organisers of the fest, told PTI.
The menu brought the hearty fare of Eastern Europe's Ashkenazi Jews to the more subtle Mediterranean flavours of their Sephardi brothers and sisters besides their Mizrahi cousins, who have a preference for the spices of Morocco, the Middle East and India.

Octogenarian Flower Silliman, one of the last surviving Jews in the city, said like other Jewish communities around the globe, Indian Jews have also adapted the regional cuisine of their adopted country to make it 'kosher'.
For example, 'aloo makallah' is a heavenly deep-fried potato dish that blends traditional flavours of India and the Middle East.
Once a thriving community of 5,000, Jews in Kolkata are now almost on the verge of extinction as most of the families have migrated to other places, especially Australia and New Zealand. But their culinary expertise has left a deep impact on the city's cuisine.