Sign up for a festive table that celebrates the season's harvest

Jesuit priests arrived in South 24 Parganas in West Bengal in the late 19th century. In the Sunderbans, they built schools and dispensaries, and carried out relief and missionary work across the remote islands, gradually making it their home. During summer, the extreme humidity made them rely on a concoction of coconut water, taal michri, a sweetener made from the sap of Palmyra palm, honey and ginger stored in earthen pots, to stay hydrated.

“Over many trips to the Sunderbans, we discovered summer in these parts often made drinking water unsafe. It was also the time of the cholera pandemic in Bengal back then,” says Santiniketan-based culinary researcher and chef Amrita Bhattacharya. She points out the drink served as a tonic for the priests, much like ginger ale. Among her many explorations, she has reinterpreted it as an aperitif for a 10-course menu titled First Tide on the occasion of Poila Baisakh (Bengali new year), at Glenburn Penthouse in Kolkata this weekend, and on 14-15 April.

Bhattacharya’s showcase is among the many unique pop-ups and dining experiences marking regional new year celebrations across the country and the diaspora this season. Beyond the research and storytelling, what stands out is the nuanced reflection of how a community cooks and eats, and the innovative formats that blend tradition with global influences. Supper club chefs from London to Brooklyn are equally gung-ho, and reimagining their roots with modern touches at intimate tables in their homes.

Chef Rachit Kirteeman’s Odisha Summer Table next weekend at indicā, an experiential dining and culinary workshop space in Delhi, is an ode to his home state timed with Pana Sankranti (Odia new year). The menu features a mix of dishes he has grown up eating, classics like dahi bara alu dum found on Cuttack’s streets, and the iconic mudi mansa, a snack of mutton and puffed rice from Baripada. He will also plate up nibbles in the form of rice papads and badis, summer staples across the state, with pickles and dips made of ambula or sun-dried mango and mustard. The palate cleanser is inspired by pagaw, which is traditionally eaten on the side and is distinctly sour with a kick of chillies. “I want to cook Odia food out of curiosity, and for me this is a way to introduce everyone to a cuisine that never really gets the attention,” he says.

For Bhattacharya, the menu is an offshoot of her research on the cuisines that are linked to mangroves and estuarine foodways. For instance, the island foods of South-East Asian cultures like the Mekong Delta through a Vietnamese pork dish. She also talks about a Malagasy vanilla chicken (from Madagascar) prepared with coconut milk that struck a familiar note, nudging her to create a malaikari with both prawns as well as ash gourd/muskmelon, flavoured with fresh vanilla.

Poila Baisakh is also keeping supper club chef Sohini Banerjee busy, as she opens up her London apartment to host a seasonal Bengali meal on 16 April for 10 diners. The eight dishes are anchored in her mother’s cooking, with flavours drawn from her travels, and those that she adopted while living in the UK. “The menu is what Ma would make on special days, starting with a bitter dish followed by seasonal veggies, dal, fish and mutton or chicken curry,” says Banerjee, who grew up in the UK. Her new year menu starts with ucche, a dish of bitter gourd and tomatoes, finished with Parmesan. The murgir jhol is cooked Mughlai-style and served with ghee rice. The mishti is ricotta semifreddo, much like an ice-cream sandesh popular in Kolkata, paired with spring oranges that evoke her grandmother’s kheer komola (orange-flavoured kheer), and drizzled with nolen gur.

“While Ma didn’t always have access to Bengali ingredients in the UK, and cooked out of necessity, I have the creative freedom, drawing on ingredients from other cultures, readily available in Chinese or Malaysian supermarkets in my neighbourhood.”

But, some choose to hold on to tradition. In Ahmedabad, Foodaholics, a curated dining experience platform, is setting up five tables at multiple venues across the city on 14 April to celebrate Baisakhi, Bohag Bihu, Vishu, Puthandu and Poila Baisakh, in collaboration with restaurants and pop-up chefs. “We want to bring people from different communities, those who may have lost touch with their culture, or those just curious to explore a new one,” says co-founder Rohan Bhatt. The Assamese menu is by Antara Boruah, an independent recipe developer and chef, who will serve black rice salad, an orange, raw mango, chilli and mint bowl, and dishes typically eaten at homes, including masor tenga, guti aloo fry, chicken in black sesame, and til pitha to name a few. The Baisakhi line-up will feature Punjabi classics at one of the city’s oldest restaurants, Mirch Masala, known for its dhaba-style dishes.

The fervour of the season continues in the Punjabi diaspora, in Brooklyn, where food writer and cook Mehr Singh will organise a 50-seater home pop-up on 12 April along with fellow food writer and chef Anikah Shaokat. Her menu is a riff on crowd favourites such as butter chicken wings finished with a kasoori methi compound butter, bhel puri with marinated pineapple, and kada prashad, a nod to her Sikh heritage. Born and raised in Delhi, Singh moved to the US for college, and says, “these festivals or holidays don’t get as much visibility in the West as Diwali or Eid. But we are hoping to make it an annual thing.”

In the end, food is the memory they carry, of their homes and seasons, and the table is where it all comes together.