What we eat.

I have gotten many questions about the food here in Bangladesh. One person facetiously asked me to write a blog about cheese. I do not think I can keep this interesting enough if I only write about cheese, and it is really hard to get good cheese here.   A small pack of American cheese slices cost about $5. A small block of cheddar could be $6 or $7. The local cheese is called paneer, it is a very soft cheese and I do not care for it. We went to A&W once and the cheese on the burger was very strange – defiantly not the American food they advertised. Now I want a grilled cheese sandwich.

Rice is the staple food here. Some people eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner. One cup of cooked white rice is the suggested serving size in the US but here that is not the case. When I was pregnant, and very hungry, I was eating up to three or maybe even four cups per meal. Our driver fills a big bowl each meal, it is a lot of rice.

The typical breakfast here is parotta, flat flaky bread that our cook prepares in advance and freezes. It cooks in a few minutes in a fry pan.  With the parotta we have a sweet (sweet malt-o-meal type thing, a syrup soaked doughnut hole thing, or a custard) and commonly some leftovers from dinner (chicken curry, a dish made from lentils, beef, etc.) or fried potatoes. This is usually not the kind of thing I want for breakfast; I will have toast with jam or egg and toast. Sometimes, I will make Sara some French Toast. I have not yet found a good wheat bread. The “brown bread” from the bakery where we get the white bread from is ok but I suspect that they add molasses or something just to make it brown. The white bread is delicious, especially toasted.

Our cook will usually make a vegetable, meat (chicken, beef, fish, egg and sometimes shrimp, goat or duck) and dal. Dal is one of my favorites; it is made from lentils and different spices and water, the consistency is like soup. We eat it over the rice and it has become my comfort food. Everything is made fresh and from scratch. There are no prepackaged meals like Hamburger Helper. Even the spices are freshly ground. We do not buy ground beef, the cook cuts the beef into small pieces and my mother-in-law grinds it in her food processer. 

Around six every evening we have snack, crackers, cookies, vegetable rolls, samosas, chips, sweets, fruits, toast and jam… there are a lot of options. Sara usually has chips or an apple. I am not fussy but I like to have a fruit with whatever else I have.

Sara and I eat dinner around eight and even with the snack at six we are hungry. Dinner is the same stuff as lunch. We finish the leftovers from lunch but the rice, vegetable, meat, and dal are usually on the table. Sometimes we will have variations from this, like the lentils will be prepared with the protein so there is no dal but that is unusual. Sara is “so sick of rice and whatever!” so occasionally she will get a special meal. Sometimes it is an egg sandwich for lunch or a hotdog or breaded chicken patty (two things we buy instead of make) for dinner. She dislikes all cooked vegetables so I try to give her cucumbers and carrots, which I can peel and give to her and I do not have to worry about her getting sick. Meals are quite the battle with her right now.

Unlike the grocery stores in the US we can only have the fruits and vegetables that are in season. Right now, we are enjoying some gourds, spinach, oranges, carrots, apples, and other winter foods.

When I first got to Bangladesh, I really missed food from home and sometimes I still do. I still miss sandwiches, salads, and mostly tacos for lunch but I am now used to the food here and missed it when I was in America (or I missed having a cook!).