From etvbharat.com
With PETA awarding Kolkata the title of the most vegan-friendly of 2025, it's high time you dig into Bengali food!
If you have ever wandered through Kolkata (with its tram system, its ability to balance intellectualism with street-side adda, and its affection for food), you will know that the city doesn’t so much celebrate cuisine as it assumes you’ve shown up for the food. This November-end, as World Vegan Month rolls out, PETA India has bestowed upon Kolkata the title of India’s Most Vegan-Friendly City of 2025. It’s an accolade the city accepts the way a seasoned grandmother accepts compliments on her cooking: and aware that you probably don’t know half of what she’s capable of feeding you. Mayor Firhad Hakim, Mayor and the Hon’ble Minister-In-Charge of West Bengal’s Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, received the award on behalf of the metropolis.
What Makes Kolkata Vegan-Friendly?
Traditional Bengali cuisine is practically a vegan’s treasure chest, though this tends to astonish outsiders who assume the region runs exclusively on maachh, sandesh, and rasgulla. But take a closer look and you’ll find a pantry built on plant-based brilliance: aloo posto, cholar dal, tomato-khejur chutney, puchka, and other dishes that are vegan.
The city’s eateries are equally committed to the cause. Burma Burma and The Flaming Bowl offer stir-fries, creative salads, and tofu. Cafés such as Aldo Café, Out and Beyond, Glenburn Café, and Sienna Store and Café pour plant-milk chai and coffee. The Daily serves vegan cakes and ice creams, Oven to Plate is a fully vegan cloud bakery, and Vegan Daily even supplies mock seafood so you can produce a compassionate maacher jhol without confusing your fish-loving relatives. Add to that Vegan World, Eastern India’s first vegan food distribution company, and you have an ecosystem where being vegan is not a diet but a way of life.
What Is Aloo Posto?
Which brings us, quite naturally and Kolkata-ishly, to Aloo Posto. Aloo Posto is one of those rare dishes that manages to look tranquil and taste profound. It involves potatoes, white poppy seeds, mustard oil. Every Bengali household will swear their recipe is the true one, and they are all correct, because Aloo Posto is more philosophy than formula.
Aloo Posto Recipe
(Serves 3–4)
Ingredients:
- 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into medium cubes
- 4 tablespoons white poppy seeds (posto)
- 1-2 green chillies, slit or chopped
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tablespoons mustard oil
- ½ teaspoon kalonji (nigella seeds/ kalo jeere)
- Salt to taste
- Water as needed
- A drizzle of raw mustard oil at the end for aroma
- A few extra green chillies for those who like their posto spicy
Method:
- Place the poppy seeds in warm water for about 30 minutes. This softens the husk and allows for a smoother paste. Then grind the soaked seeds with a little water until you have a thick, grainy paste. Posto should retain a subtle texture.
- Heat the mustard oil in a kadhai or deep pan until it shimmers. Bengali cooks will tell you to let it reach its “ghost-leaving-the-body” stage, but shimmering is good enough. Add the nigella seeds. They will crackle. Add the potatoes and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add turmeric and salt. Stir as though you are coaxing the potatoes into a meaningful conversation.
- Add the posto paste and green chillies. Mix well so that each potato cube is lovingly coated. Pour in just enough water to help the potatoes cook; a few tablespoons at a time. Aloo Posto must be soft but not swimming. Cover and cook on low heat for about 10-12 minutes, or until the potatoes yield easily to pressure but don’t collapse into mush.
- Once done, uncover the pan and let any excess moisture evaporate. The posto should cling to the potatoes like a shawl in winter. Finish with a small drizzle of raw mustard oil if you enjoy the fragrance.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Aloo Posto with: Steamed rice (preferably warm, soft, and borderline emotional) and Dal.
Aloo Posto is a dish that fits beautifully into Kolkata’s new title as India’s Most Vegan-Friendly City of 2025. Because if there is anything the city excels at, it is reminding the world that thoughtful food doesn’t have to be loud. Sometimes it only needs potatoes, poppy seeds, mustard oil.
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