Is fish same as a vegetable for bongs ?
Being born in a typical Bengali family, one cannot stop oneself from judging their weird way of classifying non-veg food- the amis, and the veg food-which is niramis. Apart from the two lies the other meta-physical component of “etho”, which is similar to the Hindi term “jhuta” but we(the Bongs!) take it to a next level where parboiled rice will not get/cause etho, but raw rice can!
I am not really sure of the dynamics of these to be applicable to any other community, but within many Indian sub-groups, lies a similarity, of onion and garlic being considered non-vegetarian. But what is absolutely unique to the bong culture is consideration of fish, their very own MAACH, as a kind of Vegetarian component. I even have got some logical explanation to that!
It is said that food habits of any group of people are a product of availability, physical environment and religious beliefs. In a coastal place like West Bengal where fish used to be available in abundance, the Brahmins of Bengal embraced fish eating given its availability, wide variety and taste. Most Bengali Brahmins, residing in West Bengal are non-vegetarians and fish is a staple diet. In fact, traditionally fish is not considered non-vegetarian by them. Having said this there are pure vegetarian Brahmins who refrain from eating onion and garlic.
According to Brhadddharma Purana, the rohita (rui), shaphara (pu~Ti, shapharI), sakula (sola) etc. white fish with scales are allowed for brahmins. JImutavahana mentions oil from illisa (ilisha, ilsA) as commonly used. However, fish that live in holes or in mud, fish whose head is shaped like a snake’s (e.g. vANa), those that look ugly and those that do not have scales were not allowed for the brahmins. Snails, crabs, chicken, crane, duck, datyuha (Cataka), camel, cow, and pigs were considered inedible by the upper caste, though no doubt at least snails, crabs, chicken, and various kinds of proscribed fish and birds were eaten by the common people.
