Pitha: Warmth that you can buy

In this bone chilling cold, what can please you more than the steaming winter pithas? For Bengalis, the charm of pithas and the uncontrollable urge for gobbling down the right-out-of-the-pan pithas are beyond any reasoning.

As the proverb goes, 'a husking machine will husk the rice whether in heaven or in hell' – the same way, Bengalis look for pithas whenever they here of a mela (a fair).

This January, many events, fairs, pitha carnivals happened around us – a celebration for pitha lovers. There are some pithas which are found at every event. You can go and taste those pithas to fill your palate.

Pithas are made modern with modern twist to grab the attention, for example turing the sweetness into spice. Photo: Noor-A-Alam/TBS

Among those, lobongo lotika, mug pakon, pati shapta, jhinuk pitha, chosir pitha, narkel puli, nokshi pitha, khejur pitha, rosh chitoi, dudh puli are popular.

As pithas are sought-after, shops at fairs to carts on the roadside offer you the mouth-watering delicacies.

A gentle reminder – tastes differ at every place. So, you have to taste and let your taste bud decide for you.

A steaming bhapa pitha has ensured its place on top a long time back. No other pitha can compete in a race with the soft, warm, red-white bhapa pitha.

Warm pitha undoubtedly get attention from the customers. Photo: Noor-A-Alam/TBS

Nakshi bhapa pitha – a specialty of Barisal, can be found at a pitha utshab (festival). Just like pizza, they also offer family sized nakshi bhapa pitha just to pamper you.

To preserve some crispy-crunchy sweetness from this winter, you can buy mowa, narkeler naru, tiler naru, gajor sandwich and others. Though these can be preserved for the entire year, you are going to finish them within a few months if you have a sweet tooth.

Warm pithas undoubtedly get attention – scoring extra points from the customers. That is the reason why we see so many carts around the city serving steaming chitoi pithas with variations of spicy bhartas – obliging you into eating them. Dim chitoi, ilish chitoi are the new craze in the city.

Nakshi bhapa pitha is a specialty of Barishal, can be found at a pitha festival. Photo: Noor-A-Alam/TBS

There are spicy pithas too – chicken puli, ilish puli, jhal jamai pitha, dim pantua are on top of that list as those are served with different bhartas and sauces.

The pithas come in a wide range of price. At different events, this price is within Tk20 to Tk120.

This lingering winter is just perfect to go and hunt some pitha carnivals to calm down your winter hunger. Happy pitha hunting!