Traditional Food of Bangladesh:
Mouth watering delicacies of Old Dhaka:
The foods of old Dhaka are legendary. From the time of Mughal and Sultani period these dishes went through some evolution, which added to the variety and taste of the ‘Dhaka dish’.
The foods are a mixture of Sultani, Mughal, Portugese, British, French, Dutch, Greek, and American traditions. With it was added the style of the cooks and housewives of old Dhaka.
Drinks:
There were many kinds of drink popular among the people of old Dhaka. Sheerberenj and sheer-e-faluda were two of them. The word sheer means milk as the main ingredients of these drinks were milk.
Sheerberenj: it was made of half ground fine rice, milk, sugar, raisin, pistachio, rosewater, cinnamon, cardamom and saffron.
Sheer-e-faluda: it was made of vermicelli of fine rice, sugar, honey, pistachio, raisin, sugar, banana, mango, papaw, saffron, rosewater and ice.
Biriyani and Polao:
‘Hajir biriyani’ is the most famous biriyani in old Dhaka. After that comes Nanna Miah’s Shahi polao. There were many types of biriyanis that was made in Dhaka from the Mughal period. Among them ‘torabondi’ polao was the most famous.
It was made of 24 items including four types of breads, four types of polao or biriyani, four types of kebab, four types of curry with cheese, borhani (a kind of drink) and pickles.
Korma, mutton curry, shik kebab, cheese, mint, borhani, sheer-e-faluda, and sweet jorda were served with biriyani and bhuna khichuri were served in torabondi.
Breads:
There were many types of bread consumed by the people of Dhaka. Sheermal, Bakorkhani, Nun, Bogdadi bread, Sohaili parata, Bon ruti, Khasta (crisp and well-kneaded) parata, etc. can be found now.
Sheermal: it was made of milk, ghee, flour and some spices. This dish came from Agra in the Mughal period. It was eaten with kebab, korma and rich curry.
Bakorkhani: bakorkhani is the also from Mughal period. It is served with sweetmeat or hot dishes. The bakorkhani that is available now is nimshukha bread, not the original one. There were three types of bakorkhani—gao joban, shukhi and nimshukhi.
Bakorkhani is made of flour, oil, water, salt, dalsa, ghee and cheese. After making small disk like pieces they are put inside the oven for ten minutes. Then those are yanked out of the oven with a metal stick and packed for sale.
Now there are four types pf Bakorkani—made of cheese, khasta, made of sugar and made of salt. The one made of cheese is best among them.
Sreet foods of Dhaka:
No love affair with can exclude our tete-a-tete with street food a grand old tradition in Dhaka from the times when street vendors used to come to one’s doorstep to sell all kinds of snacks, bhartas, ice creams, sweets and so on. Street food has a culture of its own, most are of the sort seldom made at home, and they bring with them a certain tart-and-tanginess that hints at forbidden pleasures. Needless to say, what street food lacks in refinement, it certainly makes up in boldness of flavour, the savor and spice of it answering our occasional craving for over-indulgence. Some munchies that you buy off the streets vary with the season.
All time favourite street food:
Iconic’ street foods like hawai mithai, jhal muri, fuchka, chotpoti, ghoogni, and roasted china badaam (nut), velpuri, boot and chola are available throughout the year.
Seasonal street food:
Aamra and chalta bhorta and fresh roasted bhutta bhorta during the rainy season, piping hot bhapa pitha and boroi and jolpai (olive) bhorta in the winter favailable on street. Cucumber, carrot, pineapple as well as unripe Mango bharta are on the top menu as street food in the summer.
Drinks and concoction:
To stay thanda during our scorching summers, our trove of beverage treasures of icy cool, sweet and fizzy sharbats are endless! Aakher rosh (sugar cane juice) is a great favourite with many. There is something really hypnotic about watching the canes being crushed between the two metallic cylinders as the vendors turns the wheel furiously on his machine, squeezing out the juice into a jug. Then topping it with a lil’ sqeeze of slemon and a pinch of salt. Then there is ghritokomol or aloe vera juice, purpoted to have a huge impact on a person’s overall well-beingh through cleansing and detoxifying, hence giving you and energy boost. As aloe juice tastes bland and slimy, a variety of other ingredients is added to this drink, like otkomol, tokma, isobgul, and joshthi modhu, the last being a tree bark which helps sooth sore throats.
And when you near the premises of our public schools you are bound to spot a vewndor with his rainbow row of bottles of orange, green, red, blue and yellow food colourings, selling ronger sharbat or sugar syrups in eyecatching hues. In Chittagong and Bogra, this drink has been tagged with name ruh thanda, ruh standing for atta or soul and thanda means cool.
Then there are seasonal superstar juices made from aam (mango), tormuj (watermelon), bel (woodapple), pepe (papaya),etc. when they are available, served in tall glasses filled to the brim with crushed ice yummeh!
We also have our very own local versiobn of a yoghurt shake sans sugar, diluted with three to five times its volume of water, and with just a pinch of salt and other spices- matha or ghol. With just the right intensity of saltiness and tartness, it’s said to the actually improve the b;lood circulation, and of course is oh, so thirst quenching!
By far the best drink to beat the heat has to be Daab’ er pani (green coconut water), a rich source of sugars, minerals and waters. The percentage of proteins in Daaber pani is said to be higher than in cow’s milk?! It also contains both vitamin C and B and best of all it is 100% natural and fresh.

Finally when it comes to staying toasty warm during the winter or just giving you a munch needed wake up call, there is nothing like a cup of piping hot, rong (minus the milk) or dudh cha (milk tea). There are many who just love the hint of lobongo (mint), and aada (ginger) in rong cha, while at times you just gotta indulge in a creamy sugary milky tea.
So the next tiome you’re feeling parched, scour the streets of Dhaka for a vendor to pour you a chilled glass or hot cup of your favourite drink.