Preserving Family Recipes: Share your legacy with Protibha Flavours
Every family has a special recipe -- a cherished dish that only the mother, a specific aunt, or sister can cook to perfection. The steaming Eid day polao garnished with almonds, pistachios, raisins, and plums may well be the grandma's speciality, as is the Baishakhi special of the mother.
These family secrets, often handed down through generations, impart a taste that lingers in your collective memory.
My father's grandmother, whom I had the privilege to befriend, shared so many recipe secrets with me, just by narrating stories about them. Bata macher korma was an unusual dish she made for me and the memory of the meal still makes me happy.
However, no one ever thinks of jotting down the details of these unforgettable dishes. Thus, often, the magical cooking methods are lost forever or at least the dishes never taste the same when we attempt to prepare them.
In an effort to keep these family secrets alive, and give the senior members of our family a chance to become entrepreneurs themselves, Protibha Flavours started a mission in 2023 to record these recipes, learn them, and possibly provide a chance for the home cooks to earn some money.
From retired officials, both men and women, to anyone with a strong passion for food and wanting to utilise their leisure time, Protibha Flavours offers a platform to share their skills and enthusiasm.
"Protibha Flavours is more than just a culinary endeavour; it's a social movement," said Md Adnan Hossain, founder and executive director of It's Humanity Foundation, the parent organisation of Protibha Flavours.
"Originally conceived to empower marginalised communities through employment, our mission now extends to everyone who possesses the skills and art of cooking with a focus on authentic Bangladeshi flavours using locally sourced ingredients."
Protibha is giving our grandmothers, fathers and mothers a platform and thus encouraging them to bring their dishes to the general people through niche commercial catering services.
"But our impact reaches further," said Hossain.
"We strive to empower women in the future by creating opportunities for 100 individuals from marginalised communities within the next three years. Even now, Protibha Flavours carries mustard oil, coconut oil, black seed oil, ghee, and chat masala — all sourced from women in Saidpur."
He pointed out that their best seller is the balushai (a kind of sweetmeat) prepared meticulously by a retired couple, who were both employed by Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
Protibha Flavours invites you to join their movement by connecting with them on their social media handles. Sharing your culinary specialities and your favourite dishes with others will ensure that the authenticity of your dish can be replicated and become a part of their menu. Senior citizens of Dhaka can now make good use of their spare time by catering to the gastronomic demands of Dhaka dwellers.