Dhaka’s biryani can be UNESCO world heritage, says food critic Matt Preston

A certain type of delicacies though are easily identified as European cuisines, they are not much different to their Bangladeshi variants, observes a noted food critic.

In an interview with bdnews24.com on Monday, Master Chef Matt Preston said Bangladeshi foods are unique in many ways.

 “Use of mustard oil in cooking is unique. I also know hundreds of types of potatoes. But it’s again unique that potato in this region is used in biryani, and this biryani can be part of the UNESCO World Heritage.”

The UN cultural organisation’s “world intangible heritage” list seeks to protect cultural practices in the same way as UNESCO protects sites of cultural value or great natural beauty.

With an enthusiastic tone he said, “There can be an argument over which biryani is best in Dhaka. But when it comes to Dhaka biryani as a whole, there’s a complete silence. I mean no argument there.”

The Vogue food critic is now in Dhaka to promote a local cookie brand, Rivoli.

On Monday, he met the winners of `Meet Matt Preston’ campaign organised by the Unimech Food Factory, the creator of Revoli.

Matt is the Brand Ambassador of Rivoli.

He shared his experience with bdnews24.com before the event.

Speaking of his experience of visiting the old part and some other places in Dhaka, Preston said he had tried there some of the authentic dishes.

The famous food critique said Bakharkhani, Kala Bhuna and curry prepared with Saatkora caught his attention.

“It is very interesting that Dhaka people use the social media to share their eating out experiences.”

When asked whether he found anything common here in Bangladesh, the Australian food reviewer jokingly said, “I feel very close to Bangladesh as we in both the countries want to beat India in cricket.”