Fascinating Stories Of How Rasgulla Originated In West Bengal

Where did rasgulla originate, was it in West Bengal or Odisha? Ask any foodie and they will probably tell you to relish the rasgulla and forget about its history (eat the mangoes instead of counting the pits, as they say in Hindi).

They are not entirely wrong because why would you go into history when you can gulp down spongy rasgulla dipped in sugar syrup? However, the tales of its origin in West Bengal are quite fascinating and worthy of a trip to the past.

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In November 2017, West Bengal received the Geographical Identification (GI) tag for the sweet delicacy that you can find in almost every sweet shop in India. In metropolitan cities, you can even get it delivered to your doorsteps via online services.

According to K.T. Achaya, Bengalis win the argument because they learnt the art of making chenna, a spongy milk-based sweet dish, from Portuguese. He said that it was Bengalis who decided to experiment by separating chenna from milk, a process which was not considered ideal because milk was offered to Gods.

Stories Of Rasgulla’s Origin In West Bengal

People in West Bengal claim and give credit to Nabin Chandra Das for developing rasgulla in 1868. His children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren made the dish famous throughout the state. In an old interview, Dhiman Das, great-grandson of Nabin Chandra Das, said that his great-grandfather established a sweet shop in Jorasanko in 1864. He went out of business soon and took an oath to invent a sweet dish that only he would be known by.