When Food Meets Finery
Text by Nupur Roopa
In its finished form, goyna bori often resembles pieces of jewellery. Photo by Sayantani Mahapatra
Despite her age, my friend’s grandmother has a steady hand. She bends her head, focused on the plate covered with poppy seeds as she glides a piping bag filled with lentil paste over it. She draws a graceful curve that takes the shape of a paisley. She seems to speak wordlessly to the paste, coaxing it to fall with a deceptively easy elegance. She fills in the shape with petal-like curls and perfectly balanced, crisscross geometric lines. The finished piece resembles a delicate earring.
This is goyna bori, a kind of edible art that originated in the rural areas of Purba Medinipur or the southern district of West Bengal. The resemblance to jewellery isn’t incidental. “The food art is called gohona (bodi or bori), signifying jewellery in Bengali,” explained Pritha Sen, a food historian and culinary consultant based in Kolkata. “In its colloquial form, it is mostly called goyna.”
I first came across goyna bori in the lunchbox of a Bengali friend and just could not decide whether to eat it or cherish its fragile beauty. Observing my curiosity, my friend invited me to her house to see it being created, and introduced me to her grandmother, who demonstrated the artistry involved in making them. Once they have been sun dried, goyna boris are deep fried in oil until lightly browned on both sides. Salty and crunchy because of the poppy seeds, these make for an interesting accompaniment to a meal. Sometimes, they are also served as a tea-time snack
Nobel laureate poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore is said to have been mesmerised by this culinary artform. The story goes that in 1930, Seba Maiti, a student of Shantiniketan — the university founded by Tagore — presented him with a tea doily made of lentil paste that her mother had freshly prepared. Fascinated by its artistic splendour, Tagore himself wrote back to the family, promising that the photographs of the bori would be preserved in the Santiniketan Kalabhavana museum. True to his word, Tagore took the initiative to have the bori photographed and had it displayed.
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When did goyna boris come into being? “Historically, goyna bodis came [from] aristocratic families and possibly [date back to] the early modern period. It was a very specialised artform by women from Midnapur in the early modern age,” explained Sen. However, Chandimangal kavya, a part of the mangalkavyas (or auspicious poems) that form an important part of medieval Bengali literature, mentions ‘phool boris’ made with moth beans, Sen added. There is a reason why goyna boris originated and flourished in Medinipur. “The weather is exactly right,” explained Sen. “In the winter months, it is sunny and drier than other places, which helps to dry the boris properly.”
Known by different regional names, papads and vadis are products of a shared tradition of sun-dried foods. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Even though goyna boris belong to a shared tradition of sun-dried foods that is common throughout India, they are made in the winter. On the other hand, other kinds of sun-dried foods usually made of rice and lentils, such as dal vadi, mangodi, badiyaan, badi and sandge, are traditionally made in the summer. Vadis came in handy to add protein heft to dishes, to function as substitutes for green vegetables when they are scarce, or to add flavour to bland vegetables such as bottle gourd or ridge gourd. Unlike these dried fritters, goyna boris are gently spiced. Besides, they are served on their own, while vadis are cooked with other ingredients.
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Bori making was a seasonal ritual followed in many Bengali homes until a few decades ago. It was an avenue for artistic expression and girls, in particular, were encouraged to learn it. Even though it remains a largely gendered practice, some men are also now involved in making goyna boris, said Mahapatra. It is produced commercially and can be purchased online.
Goyna boris are usually fried and served on their own as a snack or as an accompaniment to a festive meal. Photo by Sayantani Mahapatra
The amount of effort involved in its production makes goyna bori a special occasion dish. These fritters are usually served as part of a festive meal prepared for a son-in-law on his first visit to the bride’s home, shared food blogger and recipe curator, Sayantani Mahapatra. As a child, Mahapatra observed women in her family making goyna bori. Since joint families were earlier the norm, large quantities of boris were required. Batches of boris were made for all families living in a community. One day of the week was assigned to each family. The womenfolk gathered in the assigned house and made boris — it was a daylong activity that was completed as a community effort. Just like vadis and papads in other communities, goyna boris were also considered a part of a Bengali bride’s trousseau.
The making of boris starts with a ritual. On the sixth day of the Kartik month in the Indian calendar — November/December in the Gregorian calendar — women bathe and perform a puja. “Broken, unhusked moth lentils (Turkish gram or Vigna aconitifolia) are soaked overnight. In the morning, the husk is removed by rubbing the lentils on a piece of burlap/ coarse jute fabric”, explained Mahapatra. In the past, this was a manual process. The soaked lentils were ground on a mortar and pestle, which has now been replaced by electric grinders. The batter was seasoned only with salt and whisked thoroughly by hand to make it light and aerated. Mahapatra emphasises that this process of whisking by hand produces the best results.
The piping was done either by hand or using a fine piece of linen instead of the piping bags that are used today. Sometimes, the top of a toothpaste tube is cut off, cleaned, and attached as a nozzle to a thick piece of cloth folded in the shape of a cone. People also get piping nozzles made in iron or silver. “My grandmother knew someone who got it made in gold,” shared Mahapatra.
Traditionally, poppy seeds were used not only to add crunch but also to prevent the designs from sticking to the plate. Boris are also occasionally decorated with kalonji seeds (Nigella sativa), and masoor dal. Sometimes, spinach or beetroot juice may be added to the batter for colour. “My mother would soak shankhpushpi or blue pea flower in water and use it to colour the boris,” said Mahapatra.
Motifs such as paisleys are commonly used in goyna bori. Photo by Sayantani Mahapatra
Initially, goyna boris were little more than conical blobs of batter placed on a cloth and sundried. The intricate designs that they are synonymous with today evolved later. The motifs are freehand drawings inspired by nature, birds, flowers and jewelry (such as necklaces or earrings). Patterns used in textiles are also popular. For instance, the paisley, which is commonly used in handloom sarees, is also utilised in boris. “Strangely, a tiara is a very popular motif, perhaps attributed to goddess Durga,” said Mahapatra. Goyna bori also draws inspiration from alpona, another Bengali artform that uses rice paste. As Sen explained, “[Goyna bori] is the Alpona art of Bengal translated into bori [form].”
Just like with any other art, goyna bori also follows some rules and processes. Ideally, the moth lentils used should be from the new crop. The drawing of the bori follows a set process. “It starts with an outline done in a clockwise manner. The design part or loops (known as ‘pyanch’ in Bengali) are done in an anticlockwise manner,” said Mahapatra.
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Due to urbanisation and migration, goyna bori is slowly fading away. The West Bengal government is taking some initiatives towards its preservation. Sen is a part of a private, non-profit venture called The Bengal Store. This e-retail platform aims to revive lost cultural and culinary heritage, and stocks varieties of heirloom rice, organic honey, ghee, crafts, books and lifestyle products. As part of their efforts, they are also experimenting with proper packaging for fragile goyna boris that can easily break in transportation.
Mahapatra has been making goyna boris for the last seven years for her family. She plans to start pop-ups and workshops to teach bori making. If goyna boris become a viable source of income, it will help in the conservation of this dying art. Otherwise, it may soon be relegated to the past and seen only in museums. With it would go away the artistic flair that only a few are gifted with.
