Our love for food
It probably will not surprise you to learn that Dhaka is now the 'fattest' city in Bangladesh. That does not mean we have wider streets but that the people walking down these streets are wider than in other cities.
Other places have really nice catchy phrases, 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' or 'the city that never sleeps'. Our catch phrase would be something like this, "Nah, I do not want to go anywhere but eat out and take photographs of me eating out."
If Dhaka decided to have a marathon, the shorter version of the race would be fat people 'power waddling' to the nearest Kings store. It would be when we go to war in the near future. We will just have our military strategically sit on the enemy and that will be victory.
In all seriousness, we love to eat. And not only that, we love a lot of spices and sweetness in our dishes.
Only in Dhaka will you find people who can eat over 70 slices of pizza. This too during the time of Ramadan when you are fasting and cannot usually eat a lot once you finally break your fast after a long day.
If you go to popular restaurants here, you will get the Dhaka version of international cuisines. The Chinese dishes will definitely be a tad too sweet and full of spices. So why do we love it? I have friends who, after they have been away from Dhaka for a long time, text me saying that they miss the Bangali Chinese the most.
I asked my mother about it. She says and I quote, "it is a cultural thing." Now that I think about it, our families do have a long standing tradition of stuffing the faces of guests who come to our house. We love to offer food till the guests are exhausted and plead for forgiveness.
Eating a lot is just a part of us and it has been a part of us for many years now.
It does not help our massive appetite when all the very average channels that we get on television are mostly cooking shows that have your mouth-watering for the entire hour that they are on.
Shows like MasterChef Australia really teach you very little but they are very entertaining and after you see their desserts – speaking from personal experience – you will definitely want some for yourself.
It is not really our fault that we are so hooked on food. It is the environment that we live in. It is also the fault of those pesky fat cells for making us the way we are, not the rich food that we consume daily.
Besides if we were not getting fatter, memes where people are bouncing things on their belly would not be as funny and shows like 'the biggest loser' would have never been popular.
So at the end of the day, one must accept themselves for who they are. I have accepted myself for who I am – someone who loves to eat, a lot. So accept yourself for who you are and love food like you have never loved anyone else.
Speaking of food, I wonder what's for dinner!
By Naveed Naushad
Photo: Sazzad Ibne Sayed
Food: Radisson Blu Chittagong Bay View
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