The majority of Bangladeshis are Muslim (the rest are Hindu, Buddhist and Christian) therefore, as in the States, being a vegetarian puts me in the minority. The difference being that here they don't ask for an explanation, except one man asked if I'm a vegetarian in America. The other night a man said 'oh my father is a vegetarian' I said 'really? mine too.' They don't cook vegetables or dahl with meat, and they don't use lard, nice and straight forward, very veg friendly.
Bangladeshi meals all include a carbohydrate a protein and a vegetable. Breakfast carbohydrates can be white rice, but more commonly paratha (fried flaky roti), roti (circular white bread), or pau roti (sliced white bread, like sweet Wonder Bread). Breakfast protein is dim (egg) here they serve it with green chili peppers or onions, and fry it slightly scrambled a little thicker than an omelet. Frying is a common thing. Breakfast vegetables can be anything, potato, cauliflower, cabbage, always with garlic,chilies, chili powder and tumeric, very nice! Lunch and Dinner include white rice (a huge serving) with at least one vegetable dish (spinach, okra, pumpkin, sweet pumpkin, eggplant, green papaya, cauliflower, potato) and dahl (lentils normally served soupy with an oniony base to put over rice). They also make Bengali noodles, thin ramen like noodles with fried egg and onion, served with rice. For meat eaters, fish is a common protein here, but they also have chicken and beef, cooked in a spicy curry. They are generous with oil (soy bean oil) and morich (chili). Dinner and lunch often come with salad, slices of fresh cucumber, tomato and carrots with lime and green chilies, sadly for me, no fresh fruits/vegetables. Dairy is mainly milk in coffee and tea, and in the sweets, but no cheese.
Silverware is not common here. It is more common to use the right hand. I was taught how to scoop with my fingers and use my thumb to push the food in my mouth, and if it's done right, the rice and tumeric should not be above the most distal knuckle. It's pretty fun to eat with your fingers, as long as you have soap and clean water to wash before and after. Sometimes the tumeric stains the cuticles yellow for a few washings. Last night a paramedic hosted dinner at her house and her neighbor was in awe I was eating with my fingers.
I am meeting many people everyday, and while it is challenging for me to say or remember their names, they can all remember and pronounce my name, someone asked me today, 'what is your English name?' Funny, in the states I get 'is that your yoga name?' One of the paramedics took to calling me 'Om Shanti Om' and I've heard it a few times since from various people. To show respect for someone, the word apa (sister) or bhai (brother) is added after their name. You can even use it for the rickshaw puller, 'hey rickshaw puller bhai.'
Today was my last day visiting the chars, tomorrow I head back to Dhaka to organize the data we have collected so far and hopefully I can figure out some meaningful way to help. I am not looking forward to the bus ride back to Dhaka, it will be long, potentially hot and crowded, and definitely noisy, it's horn honking time again.