There’s a whole menu of Jewish cuisine that most of us will be unfamiliar with. It’s quite unique, having been developed by a group of Iraqi Jews in Calcutta. It was always a small group of émigrés — 5,000 people at its peak — that has now shrunk to less than 20 people.
“Even at its peak, the Jewish community of Calcutta was only a quarter of a percent of the city’s population,” Max Nye, whose mother, Esther, was born there, explains.
“Her ancestors originated from Iraq.” Mum’s family had moved from Iraq sometime in the 1870s, and she was three-quarters Iraqi and one-quarter Syrian. When things grew difficult for the family in Iraq, my great-great-grandfather relocated the family.
The Iraqi Jewish community in Calcutta was one of three Jewish groups in India, according to Nye. “Another one was in Mumbai, and another in Kochin.” “They were all distinct from one another.”
Source: https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/food/indian-supper-max-nye-indian-iraqi-food-1.521423
