EAST INDIAN COMMUNITY

East Indians are one of the original inhabitants of North Konkan region, particularly Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), Thane, Salsette, Chaul, Palghar and Vasai….. According to one school of thought, Christianity was introduced in North Konkan by St.Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles of Christ, in first century AD……. When Portuguese took over North Konkan in the 16th century, they converted Earlier Christians, Brahmins, Kolis (fishermen), farmers, adivasis and other communities to Roman Catholic Christianity….. Portugal handed over Bombay, as marriage treaty, to the British East India Company in 1661….. Catarina de Bragança, daughter of João IV of Portugal, married Charles II of England and Bombay was handed over as dowry….The British East India Company started recruiting Christians for Railways and Steamships from different parts of Konkan, namely Goa and Mangalore….. Thus, in order to differentiate themselves from the recruited Christians, the Native Christians started calling themselves the Original East Indians after the Company…… Despite Portuguese and to some extent British influences, the community has preserved their pre-Christian Marathi culture…… East Indians speak a dialect of Marathi with borrowed Portuguese words…… Hence East Indian Community cuisine is a mix of many communities coming together.

Advertisement

CUISINE OF THE KONKAN REGION

Konkan region is a coastal strip lying between the Western Ghats in the East and the Arabian Sea in the West……In Maharashtra, the districts of Thane, Sindhudurg, Palghar, Ratnagiri and Raigad are included in the Konkan region….. Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, is part of this region.

The coastal region of Konkan and particularly Mumbai has from, times immemorial, always attracted Migrants from far & wide…….Parsis, Bene Israelis, Pathare Prabhus, Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB), Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus (CKP), Somvanshi Kshatriya Pathare (SKP),etc. made this region there home…… Some of the indigenous communities of North Konkan and Mumbai are Koli, Aagri and East Indian Catholics.

Thus, in this region, one can find various cuisines which is a combination of various Migrant influences and local Maharashtrian flavours.