Where Kolkata’s hilsa comes from and why its waters may shape its taste

The journey of the hilsa begins far from the Bengali kitchen . Before the mustard paste, before the green chillies split down the middle, before the first hiss of fish meeting hot oil, it is out at sea, moving through deeper, colder water. Then the monsoon gathers, the rivers swell, and something ancient pulls the fish inland.

“It is an ocean fish,” says Sujoy Chatterjee co-founder of the lunchroom Amar Khamar who works with a large network of farmers and growers across West Bengal and Sunderbans for his ingredient and rare fish revival work. Sujoy says that the hilsa comes to the rivers for laying eggs.

Circa 1997. FIshermen handling large quantities of fish | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives