UN News

by Mohammed Sadeque

Hilsa: A Delicacy of the Rainy Season

Hilsa, or ilish, as it is known in Bangla, is basically a marine fish living in the shallow northern part of the Bay of Bengal. But it swims upstream along the mouths of the Ganges (or Padma, as it is known in Bangladesh) and the Meghna when the summer water starts flowing down these rivers along with their tributaries toward the Bay. The inland stretches of these rivers are the breeding grounds for the fish. They swim up in thousands, and release eggs. When these fries grow a little bigger, they swim back to the Bay unless misfortune tends them to turn into a delicious item in the average Bengali dish.

As long as the fish remains in the sea, its shape is a little long and thin, and does not taste good. But when it enters the inland rivers, it starts growing fat and becomes tasty. It always swims in big flocks of thousands. The main catching points are near Chandpur, Bhola, the confluence of Padma and Jamuna downstream of Aricha and along the Padma.

Hilsa is considered one of the best delicacies on Bengali menu, particularly in the rainy season. There are many preparations of this fish. It is taken fried, or with some soup. It is also eaten with polao, as well as with panta or watered rice. Savouring a combination of hilsa and panta is an integral part of the celebration of Bangla New Year on the first day of Baishakh.

In the traditional protocol of entertainment in some parts of northern Bangladesh, serving hilsa to very near, dear and honored guests for lunch or dinner is almost an obligation. Without this all other items, however rich those may be, are not considered adequate.

Since hilsa is a very soft kind of fish, it tends to start rotting very quickly. So it needs immediate freezing or cooling with ice as soon as it is caught. In the catching grounds, ice or a freezing facility is often not found, especially in view of the erratic power situation. The price of the fish, therefore, fluctuates with the factors of transportation, freezing and size of the catch. In Dhaka market this season, hilsa is scarce and an average size costs in Tk 300 to 400.

A famous Bangla novelist of the last century, Manik Bandapadhya, has accorded a great place to hilsa in his masterpiece, “Fisherman of Padma”, whose main catch was hilsa, an omen for good luck. Once upon a time, for decades during the late 19th and the 20th centuries, passenger steamers plied between Chandpur and other river ports on the Padma. A great attraction for the passengers of all levels was eating rice with famous hilsa of Padma. Fresh catch was cooked for the passengers, which was a great delicacy. With the evolution of public transportation in Bangladesh, this is now just history.