Monday, December 31, 2012

Bangladesh's Gift to the World

It is my firm belief that every country has at least one culinary delight which is its gift to the rest of the world. I also believe it is my destiny to find ALL of these delights and share them with my wonderful family and friends. Here are some examples that you may be familiar with:

Germany- Nutella (chocolaty hazelnut spread that tastes amazing with bananas!)

England- Cadbury Eggs (the cream eggs for sure!)

Japan- Japanese Mayo (you know that bottle that comes in a cupie doll wrapper? delicious!)

Italy- Gelato, Artichokes, Spagetti, Olive Oil, Espresso (What's not a culinary delight in Italy???)

Norway- Lefsa (thin tortilla made from potatoes)

Spain- Olives (thank you to whoever figured out how to make them edible)

France- Crepes (banana nutella please!!!)

I could go on and on but the reason for todays post is to introduce you to the biggest culinary delight of Bangladesh: Rosh!

Date Palm tree with Rosh pot to catch the sap
Rosh is a drink that is taken directly from the Date Tree. Someone will climb the tree and attach a pot to it to catch the sweet nectar. Later that day the pot will come down full of liquid. You can only get Rosh for 2-3 months out of the year: December-February (good thing I have impeccable timing when I travel). As if Rosh were not enough on its own, we also sometimes have Muri (puffed rice) which we put into our glass of Rosh and it's breakfast in a cup!

The same liquid can be boiled and thickened to make a syrup. Then a variety of morning treats are dipped in it. I have had it with fresh rice cakes as well as something similiar to a small pancake. Lastly, the stuff can be hardened as well to make Gur which is like a molasses I suppose. It's solid and very sweet and I am told it aids digestion after a meal.

Unfortunately I don't know if you will be able to find this deliciousness in the states, although, I'd never heard of it until now so I never looked. Who knows, maybe you can try it out after all!

Happy New Year!



Fresh Rice cakes with hardened nectar "Gur"

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