The traditional Bengali meal is served in a precise sequence of steps on a large brass plate (thala) or a banana leaf, centered around a mound of rice. It always begins with the bitter (shukto) to awaken the palate, followed by dal, leafy greens (shak), and fritters (bhaja), then river fish which is the heart of the meal, finally a tangy touch (chatni) and sweets (mishti) to close. It is less a list of dishes than a choreography of taste, from bitter to sweet.

Bengal is the land of the mustard seed: from it comes pungent oil (sorshe tel) that perfumes almost everything, and a biting paste that marks fish dishes. Added to this is panch phoron, a five-seed blend (cumin, nigella, fenugreek, fennel, black mustard) thrown into hot oil — the very smell of Bengali cooking.