Sweets.... Bengali Beer

Sweets are an obsession in Bengali culture. Especially at Puja time, where they are served anywhere and everywhere. The most popular ones in Kolkata are the Rasgulla and the Gulab Jamun. Others are popular as well, but these are the ones you see the most.

I finally have this obsession figured out, it is basically exactly the same as American's obsession with beer. Drinking is quite taboo in most parts of India, so a substitute is needed, and has been found.

To demonstrate, try switching out the word "beer" for "sweet" in any of these observations and see if it is not true for Americans.

- At any celebration or family gathering, sweets will be served.

- A common topic of conversation at said gatherings is the quality of the sweets, and where the best sweets are made.

- People at celebrations attempt to get you to consume more sweets then you are prepared for or comfortable consuming.

- People also commonly discuss how many sweets they have consumed in the past at other celebrations or how many were consumed by the attendees of a celebration.

- At a large party it is common to have a large barrel of sweets (actually a giant clay jar).

- It is considered more festive to consume sweets in one gulp, rather then consuming then consuming them bit by bit.

- If you go over to someones house to consume sweets, it is essential that you bring some with you. These also must be more sweets around then anyone could reasonably consume.

- You can never have too many sweets at a party.

Funny sidelight to this:

We were watching the Bengali news channel on TV and they had a reporter out at a Pandel announcing that the club had been given some award for the design of their Pandel. First everyone was just standing around staring at the camera, as Indians do. Then when he announced the award everyone started dancing around like mad and a man walked into the crowd with a giant jar of sweets on his head. A second later, someone reaches in from off camera and stuffs a giant Rasgulla into the reporters mouth, silencing him at his obvious embarrassment.