Kolkata wears its heart on its streets. Come December, the city is all decked up for merry-making, from its crisp, sunny wrapping to warm woollen colour pops; a morning jaunt turns into a carnival with a trail of colours, sounds and aromas. People are off to work with a holiday grin. Christmas and New Year await at the next turn. Even traffic jams turn into sweet relish, as red Santa caps and Christmas lights change hands before one can say ‘Go’. Edges get softer, colours brighter, and as the temperature nosedives, warmth spills onto the streets. Smoking-hot cha, Chinese, chaat, jhalmuri-vendors do brisk business, reminding us that there’s no better sauce than the big chill.
‘Even traffic jams turn into sweet relish, as red Santa caps and Christmas lights change hands before one can say ‘Go’’ iStock
And then there is the wafting, tickling, suggestive hint of spices and fruits; once it takes you by the nose, you can only be headed for nostalgia – lost in layers of moist warmth under a golden crust and sugar dust. Elves had taken over Kolkata. I remembered the days when I was greedier than grown-up. And the elves turned Kolkata into a cake-town overnight. Cakes, and more cakes took over shop counters. Crowding out the assortment of bread and biscuits that were sold every day by the shops, now there were cakes of every denomination, dominating the city.
One of the very first elves I knew was… our mother!
One of the very first elves I knew who turned our kitchen into a baker’s corner had to be our mother. For a month, there was no other topic except dry lists and wet lists, recipes, trips to New Market, little paper bags full of dry fruits and plums, and a fist that was always getting caught pinching from the jar of pistachios. I had a more or less fruitless hand at baking, but I was witness to more than the making of cake. It was the making of happiness.
The cake fairies at Nahoum’s made the best cakes
Nahoum’s cakes have added layers of the city’s history to its ingredients Suvendu Das
The cake fairies at Nahoum’s made the best cakes of course. With dry fruits and condiments getting punch drunk all winter, Nahoum’s rich fruit cakes and walnut brownies have always been proof that there is a heady place called heaven. Since 1902, Nahoum’s cakes have added layers of the city’s history to its ingredients; so, now when you sink your sweet tooth into their rum balls or plum cakes, you take a bite of legend. Bringing home the Nahoum’s special Christmas Plum Cake became more a family tradition than just a treat.
Lovey is the genie of baking
Someone who has made Kolkata’s Xmas Xtra flavourful through the years is Lovey of Kookie Jar. She is the genie of baking, whose crispy light cheese straws and corn puffs sparked off my wispy dreams many winters ago.
Lovey of Kookie Jar Kookie Jar/Facebook
Today there are more state-of-the-art factories, accurate gadgets and automated assemblies churning out picture perfect, Instagrammable confection. There are more exotic choices and global inspirations. Cake counters are more like art displays. Yet Kolkata’s Xmas cake has an X-factor that melts into memories in the mouth.
It must be a blend of the winter chill and the warmth of many loving hands, of many faiths. The elves measuring out the cheer every year, are real people, coming from all beliefs. In a touch so natural to Kolkata, you have a Jewish bakery keeping up the Christmas tradition while Hindu families join in Midnight Mass and share cakes, and Sikh and Muslim friends bake the season’s cheer to perfection in five-star hotels and neighbourhood bakeries alike. With people living in such harmony, you don’t need heavens to prove there is Christmas. You need a Christmas cake to prove there is a heaven, where we are.
Anjan Chatterjee is the chief of Speciality Restaurants, which owns Mainland China, Asia Kitchen by Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Sigree Global Grill, Café Mezzuna, Hoppipola, Barissh and many more. And yes, he is a foodie! He can be reached at acgenx@gmail.com.