It's that time of the year again. Christmas is around the corner, churches are gearing up and streets are lit up across cities to spread festive cheer. The festive Christmas week is getting closer, bringing with it a slew of seasonal cheer. The air is filled with the enticing fragrance of freshly baked cakes and the joyful spirit of celebration. This time of year brings out an array of scrumptious treats, with Christmas cakes ruling supreme. The world over, a variety of different Christmas cakes and bakes are created to celebrate the festive season. India too has a legacy of different kinds of Christmas cakes with a regional twist. Several cities have heritage bakeries that make their special version of cakes and treats for Christmas. For instance, Nahoum's, a Jewish bakery in Kolkata. According to old timers, Christmas in Calcutta (the former name of Kolkata) was only complete with a rich fruit cake from Nahoum's. Then there are the Irani cafes and bakeries of Mumbai which have their sweet versions. The Pudim of the East Indian community is another very Indian twist on a Christmas delicacy. But did you know about the Allahabadi Christmas cake?
The Allahabadi Christmas Cake originated in Allahabad's Anglo Indian community. During the British era, several places in India had a strong community of Anglo-Indians. For instance, McCluskieganj in what is now Jharkhand. The film Death In The Ganj was based out of the place. You may have also seen the culture picturised in the more recent Bollywood film The Archies. In Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow too had a strong community of Anglo-Indians. The famous La Martiniere College in Lucknow was established in 1845 as a boarding school for the sons of European and Anglo-Indian soldiers and civilians. Another place you will find traces of the culture is in Kolkata's Bow Barracks. Once part of military barracks, this block of red brick buildings was home to a large number of Anglo-Indian communities. The Christmas celebrations here attract many visitors.
The other city in UP where the community flourished was Allahabad, now renamed as Prayagraj. Most of the people persons who worked for the railways, lived in the railway colony's government quarters. Anglo-Indian cuisine was developed in cities like Allahabad as a mix of India's spices and the gamey roasts and stews of the Brits. Typical Anglo-Indian dishes included the various cutlets, foogath, Country Captain chicken curry, kedgeree, and mulligatawny soup. And the Allahabadi Christmas cake.
Various factors distinguish the Allahabadi Christmas cake. For one thing, it's prepared with 'petha,' or candied ash gourd. In place of butter or margarine, a considerable amount of our desi fat ghee, or clarified butter, is used. The cake also contains marmalade. Rum-soaked dry fruits and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, and ginger may also be included in the Allahabadi Christmas cake.
According to sources, this one-of-a-kind Christmas cake was created in 1963 by an unassuming bakery in Allahabad's Civil Lines run by a guy named Mohammad Aslam. A resident of the Railway community is said to have specified the cake's ingredients to the Bushy Bakery. It had petha, murabba, ghee, and fennel seeds. At the time, people would bring their own ingredients to such bakeries, and they would make the cake according to the requirements. Many of India's old bakeries still follow this tradition.
The Allahabadi Christmas cake is a part of the long tradition of Anglo-Indian cuisine in India. Europeans (mostly British) and Indians have shared a layered history for centuries, and the cultures left traces, affecting many facets of life. Many genres from both India and Britain like language, faith, education, and family, influenced both Indian and British lifestyles. Food was one of the areas where the influences can be seen the most.
Throughout the colonial period, many new hybrid dishes came into existence, with the efforts and innovations of the Indian khansamas and cooks who combined spices and other ingredients to otherwise bland Western dishes. They toned down the spices and pungency of typical Indian dishes to suit the delicate palates of the foreigners. Thus, a new cuisine took shape. The dishes prepared at these households were distinctive and became a direct reflection of the multicultural and hybrid heritage of the new colonial population, and was named aptly after the unique community formed, the Anglo Indians.
A traditional European dish incorporating very desi ingredients like the famous ‘petha’ of Agra, ordered to specification by an Anglo-Indian woman, and baked by a Muslim baker. Could it get any more melting pot and Indian than that?