Exploring the street breakfast culture

Breakfast on the go has a different meaning for the toiling masses of Dhaka. Rickshaw pullers doing early shifts to cash in on school rides, night guards before hitting the beds, street sweepers -- all opt for a quick street breakfast, which is spread out by 6:00am for business.

Chomping down an egg roll or parata-halwa from makeshift eateries and carts, and chugging it down with a cup of steaming milk tea, these early birds are all charged to begin the day. Come winter, the addition of traditional pithas makes winter breakfast by the roadside as sweet as the palm sugar in them.

Coconut shaving filled with palm jaggery in a bhapa pitha puts you in a cheery mood and this is exactly the sweet kickstart you need in a moderately chilly morning.

Different makeshift food stalls, carts, and women sitting on bricks steaming rice cakes make for this very affordable breakfast by the roadside. Men and women while shopping for fresh morning vegetables after their morning walks join the fun at times. Even mothers in a rush pick up an egg roll or a sweet pitha for their children's tiffin.

Hasan, a house guard, accompanied by his buddies (drivers and house guards of houses nearby), have their morning meals from the roadside stalls and vans selling semolina-halwa and parata by the kilos. This two-wheeled cart sells hot paratas and semolina halwas; these are a hit with early birds going to work.

Tk 50 worth halwa and parata can feed two people, according to Hasan. This unique cart breakfast goes a long way in time and they have a mahajan or merchant who runs five to six such carts in community-based specific areas. Fifty kilogrammes of flour and five kilogrammes of semolina give them enough financial incentive to cook this simple breakfast every morning for the working people of Dhaka. 

Hasan's favourite spot is the "picchir dokan", a small tin shack with tools as seats that serves an assortment of affordable, tasty morning meals. A small boy runs the show and the speed with which he works is as close to any acrobatic feat.

Parata, ruti, and daal for Tk 40. Plain khichuri for Tk 30 and if you want to add an omelette with it, the khichuri platter is Tk 50. Egg rolls are Tk 30; milk tea is Tk 8 and sweetened black tea, with a hint of lemon and cloves is Tk 5. Regulars like Hasan spend Tk 30 every day to have breakfast and that brings his total breakfast expenditure to Tk 900 monthly.

After 11 o'clock these eateries shift to a lunch menu of curries and rice, and puri-shingaras in the evening as snacks. The street corners in every locality or paras, as we know, have their own brand of magic going. They are always abuzz with people from all walks of life to enjoy these casual and affordable meals.