Fish and rice keep the Bengalis happy

There is no disputing the fact that fish and rice are two items that can keep the Bengalis happy. This is because Bengal is a state where there are innumerable villages and small bodies of water that go by the common nomenclature of ponds. Fish thrive in these waters and are easy pickings for the locals.
Moreover, many landlords had their own ponds in which fishes were grown especially for the families. Hence, dependency of Bengalis on fish existed from time immemorial and it kept growing.
As long as the villages existed, fish was available in abundance but, with the gradual destruction of the environment due to construction work in the name of development and infrastructure in the form of roads, the water bodies began to disappear. But, not the hunger for fish of the Bengalis and, this led to them to go outside the state for the procurement of the fish.
Right now, fish meant for Kolkata come from adjoining Orissa and Andhra Pradesh - however, the range of fish that Bengalis are accustomed to do not always come from neighboring states. While fish like pomfrets, lobsters, crabs and prawns apart from carps and fish from the catfish family do arrive, the varieties of small sweet water fish are absent. There are many Bengalis who have a soft corner for such fish and, obviously, the local fishermen from the villages exploit this weakness and sell off their catch at a premium.
The method of cooking the fish depends on many factors and, thanks to the Electronic media, one can get hundreds of ideas from the TV shows hosted by men and women who are experts in coking – some of them are housewives others are chefs of hotels.
Broadly speaking, Bengalis like their fish either fried or steamed or wrapped in plantain leaves and roasted. Fish like prawns and hilsa are the tastiest and most favored. Even the lobsters have their fans as do the carps and catfish variety. However, sea fish like pomfrets do have followers but are not in any great demand.
Unfortunately, in spite of what people may say, the average consumption of fish in urban Bengal is hardly 1.032 kg per head per month while in Lakshadweep, it is 3.801 kg of fish a month.