WHAT'S COOKIE-ING?

INDIA'S LOVE FOR BAKED goodies is undeniable. According to reports, the biscuits and cookies industry makes up nearly 72 per cent of the Indian bakery market, placing us as the third-largest biscuit manufacturer after the US and China.

However, this popularity is not new. The history of biscuits in India goes way back in time. The earliest reference to biscuits in Bengal comes from Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French traveller who noted in the 1660s that Hooghly's port was ideal for stocking up on biscuits for long journeys.

Surprisingly, a nation that now loves biscuits once shunned them. In the 19th century, orthodox Hindus, bound by caste rules, rejected biscuits as not "desi" enough.

But suppression was met with defiance.

Young Rajnarayan Bose, a famous intellectual and Sri Aurobindo's grandfather, joined the Brahmo Samaj in the 1840s. To celebrate, he and his friends shared biscuits and sherry. But we have come a long way from the time when owning a bakery wasn't permitted in a feudal and caste-driven India.

Even more interesting is the sheer variety of biscuits available across the country.

ACHAPPAM, KERALA