19/11/08 Misti and cha, or Eating my own body weight in sugar

19/11/08
Misti and cha, or Eating my own body weight in sugar

Before arriving here, I’d heard that Bangladeshi hospitality was second to none. ‘Yeah, yeah,’ I thought, sure that it would be nothing out of the ordinary. But, as so often in this new adventure of mine, I was wrong.

Pretty much everywhere you go here, someone will appear within moments with a tray of food that they will insist you devour, pronto. This can range from crisps, to puffed rice with molasses, to freshly made cakes, to bread and jam, to noodles, to achar (pickle, usually very sour or very spicy) to pieces of curried beef, to fresh fruit, to jalebi (amazing squiggley sweets, that are deep fried and which ooze sugar syrup when you bite into them) and any number of other delectable Bangla misti. You cannot refuse – mainly because the food is so good, but also because you don’t want to seem rude. And no thanks will be accepted – everyone seems to feel like being so amazingly generous is their duty.