Sweet victory!

Finally, the ongoing ‘sweet’ war over decades between Odisha and West Bengal is over.

Yesterday, the Geographical Indications (GI) registry announced that the rosogolla (also known as rasgulla) originated in the state, and not in Odisha. This might sound like a petty fight to us but in these two states, it is a big deal. Not just the significance of Rosogolla but the GI status means it is now official and will give West Bengal the bragging rights to say that this sweet, famous world over, first originated there.

Over the past two years, the battle had intensified, with each state digging into history and ancient texts to reinstate their state as the origin. Odisha had set up a special committee for this research and came up with study which indicated that it had existed in their state for over 600 years now , originating in Puri as ‘kheer mohana’ which later became ‘pahala rasagolla’. To counter this, West Bengal Govt dug into 19-century history and said that rosogolla was invented by Nabin Chandra Das, a famous sweetmeat maker, in 1868. The Das family is recognized as West Bengal’s first family of sweetmeat industry. In fact the residence of the Das family on 532 Rabindra Sarani is known as Rosogolla Bhavan.

Well, the debate is over now and both the states can forget this bitterness over a bowl of rosogolla.