A sweet affair
Five-day Mishti Mela ongoing at Shilpakala Academy
Dhaka dwellers with a sweet tooth currently have an exciting opportunity to taste numerous distinctive and popular sweets from across the country, as Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy is hosting a five-day sweet fair on its premises.
The fair started on Wednesday and will continue till Sunday. It is open from 3:00pm to 9:00pm.
This event presents a great opportunity for city dwellers to learn about the rich diversity of traditional sweets from across the nation.
Sadman Iqbal, a resident of Segun Bagicha, said, "I had no idea Bangladesh had so many types of sweets. Our traditional sweets are lost due to modernisation. I am really glad I came here and got to sample various sweets I never had before."
According to the organisers, there are 64 sweet stalls from the country's 64 districts. Most of the stalls saw large crowds yesterday evening due to it being the weekend.
The biggest gathering was observed at the Cumilla stall.
Shampa, a representative of the stall, said, "Our sales are through the roof as we are selling the original matribhandar roshmalai. Roshgolla, chamcham, chhanamukhi, and chhana angoori are also selling well."
Ashraful Alam, the representative of the Kushtia stall, had a smile similar to Shampa's on his face, owing to the stall's success. He is selling tiler khaja, para sandesh, motka, and roshkodom.
"People from across the country love to take a bite of Kushtia's tiler khaja," he remarked.
Hasibul Hasan, a man with a sweet tooth, came to the fair from the capital's Shankar. He shared that he really loved the taste of Gopalganj's Dutta Mistanno Vandar's roshgolla, a GI product of the district.
"Two years ago, I visited Tungipara and had the roshgolla. So, when I saw it here, I couldn't control myself and bought five of them. They do taste a little different, though," he said.
Ferdouse Daria, the representative of the stall, said, "When you go to the original shop, you taste the roshgolla fresh from the kitchen. Since we made our batch in the morning, it tastes slightly different."