The many flavours of chitoi pitha

For many in Bangladesh, the coming of winter is fundamentally intertwined with the eating of rice cakes. For generations, the use of newly harvested rice to make rice cakes has been an integral part of Bengali culture. Though cities don’t see rice harvests, the availability of new rice in the markets is immediately met with a sudden explosion of rice cake vendors on the city’s streets. Some rice cakes, however, are available throughout the year. The rice cake stalls on the pavement in Dhaka’s Farmgate offers a broad palette of mashes and dips to accompany their chitoi pitha, a traditional rice cake.