Panipuri is found outside Bengal. At present, that panipuri is sold in various restaurants. But the joy of eating phuchka with a bowl of shawl leaves on the streets of Kolkata is different. Fuchka is always on the list of favorite food of Bengalis.
‘Fuchka’ is a very popular delicacy across the country as a street food. This tempting food is prevalent in any part of our country, even in villages and urban areas. It is known by different names in different regions.
In West Bengal its name is "Fuchka"; In northern India it is known as Gol-Gappa, while in western India as in Maharashtra it is known as Pani-Puri. There is no end to the enthusiasm of the Bengalis around this fulco fulco round object made of a combination of flour and semolina. Boys and girls, from eight to eighty, all stand at the corner of the street and sit in a bowl of shawl leaves filled with potatoes and this alluring object filled with sour water. However, today's Fuchka was quite popular in ancient times.
This phuchka has also been mentioned in mythology in the age of Mahabharata. Although it was not known as 'Fuchka' today but as 'Fulki' at that time. According to legend about the origin of Fuchka, it first came into existence in the ancient kingdom of Magadha in India.
In ancient India there were 16 'Mahajanapadas' or 'Great Kingdoms'. One of them is the state of Magadha which is now known as Dakshin Bihar. Although the exact timing of the reign of Magadha in India is unclear. However, they existed before 600 BC. Both the Mairya and Gupta empires were born in Magadha and it was from this region that Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism were born and developed in India.
It is said that Fuchka of Magadha was not exactly like the present time. At that time this Fuchka was called 'Fulki' (Fuchka is still referred to as Fulki in different parts of India). Although this ancient 'fulki' was smaller than today's phuchkar, it was made with crispy and vegetable filling. Initially, it is unclear what exactly they used as a pur in Fuchka. Although it is thought to be full of potatoes or any other vegetable. But according to another legend, Draupadi Fuchka, the wife of the five Pandavas of the Mahabharata, was credited with the discovery in the Puranic period.
When the five Pandavas, Draupadi and their mother Kunti were in exile after losing the kingdom in the game of Pasha, one day Kunti wanted to test Draupadi's cooking skills. He instructed Draupadi to cook something good to satisfy the five brothers. For this Kunti gave him some potatoes, vegetables and a small amount of flour. Draupadi's mother-in-law accepted the mother's challenge and discovered Fuchka with a mixture of flour and semolina.
It is said that Kunti, impressed by the skill of the daughters-in-law, immortalized the dish in which the bullets were kept. However, until the independence of our country, the people of East Bengal did not have the ability to accept such a blow. Even at that time Fuchka was not considered as street food as it is today. And before independence, those who liked to eat phuchka were called 'ghati'. After 1947, this phuchka became equally popular among the people of the two Bengals. And now not only to the satisfaction of the taste, Fuchka is served with Scotch or wine. All in all, as the society is becoming more modern, the taste of Bengalis is changing. The touch of nobility has also come in the food. That said, the Bengalis could not forget the tradition of eating phuchka filled with sour water in a bowl of shawl leaves.
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