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SNACKS

Phuchka-chatpati: From roadside to posh shops

Sohel Parvez
It was half-past 10 at night. The 28-year old brick and sand retailer Nur Kalam's eyes were watering from the hotness of chilli. Yet he continued savouring the whole bowl of chatpati he bought atTk 10.
"Oh, it's too hot. But I love it for the taste of chilli," said Kalam, standing beside a roadside phuchka-chatpati vendor at the SAARC Fountain intersection in Karwan Bazar.
Kalam is not the lone lover of the dish. The list of phuchka-chatpati gourmets is very long and varied.
Phuchka is a round and hollow "puri", fried crisp and filled with a watery mixture of tamarind, chilli and boiled potato while chatpati is prepared by using almost same
ingredients and served with crushed phuchka.
Food lovers, especially teenagers and women, are seen having the mouth watering food from roadside stores to posh fast food shops.
Once available only in roadside rickshaw van shops, phuchka-chatpati is now on the top of menu charts in posh fast food shops, thanks to its huge popularity.
The business of phuchka-chatpati has grown over the decades on robust sales and good returns, creating employment for many people with small investment. Now thousands of microentrepreneurs and owners of fast food courts are engaged in the trade of phuchka-chatpati in Dhaka.
Experts attributed the
growth of the food to urbanisation and changes in people's lifestyle and tastes. They said that the food item has created both paid and selfemployment in urban areas.
They however stressed the need for ensuring hygiene in preparing the food.
Phuchka, according to historians, is a north Indian food in origin and entered the Bengal in the early period of the 18th century.
And phuchka sellers were found growing in Dhaka after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.
"I can remember some stalls selling phuchka at Nawabpur in Dhaka at the end of 1947. But those were mostly found in front of school gates,” noted writer Prof Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, recalling his
school days at St Gregorys.
“In the initial stage, school going students were my main customers. But now people of all ages like it,” said Jumman Mia, who has been selling phuchaka-chatpati since early 60s at Armanitola in old town.
Jumman, who can remember the presence of about a handful of phuchka sellers during his early career, said the number of sellers started to increase after liberation with rise in demand and population growth.
Biplob, a chatpati seller, said his daily average sales stand at Tk 1200. "Out of the sales I can make a profit of about Tk 400," he added.
Prof Sirajul Islam, chief editor of national encyclopaedia of Bangladesh Banglapedia, said the
chatpati-phuchka was mainly found on the roadside before 1971.
“It started to enter the food shops after the liberation war. Now it's quite an elite food by virtue of fast food shops,” he said.
Dhaba, a chain restaurant offering various foods of the sub-continent, is one of the pioneers in offering various types of phuchka. The restaurant, established in mid 1998. is offering at least five types of the food including doi phuchka, prepared with yoghurt.
“It's (doi phuchka) one of the most popular items. Locals and foreigners like it the most,” said Selina Rahman, one of the four women entrepreneurs who look after the two branches of dhaba at Banani
and Rifles Square.
The dhaba is not alone. Many small fast food shops at Bashundhara City as well as other shopping centres also offer verities of phuchka.
Dr Rushidan Islam Rahman, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the phuchka trade is helping to create both self and paid employment. _
“If the vendors ensure the hygiene, the demand for the food item may increase," she said.
Micro credit may help increase investment in the trade, she said, adding that a small investment in this labour intensive trade can generate more employment.
sohel@thedailystar.net