Kolkata: Nahum & Sons has been in business in New Market for the past 122 years and is a cake and savoury shop that is part of Kolkata’s food culture. Chicken dishes Employees said the decision was a direct result of the restaurant returning to its original menu. Jewish Roots — Because there is no butcher to cut the chicken. Kosher The shop owners, who now live in Israel, have decided not to open on Saturdays, also in accordance with Jewish tradition.
Kosher refers to food that complies with Jewish dietary laws, including specific rules about the types of meat that can be eaten and how it is prepared. Nahoom’s chicken supplier, who once supplied kosher chicken to the sweet shop’s kitchen, passed away late last year. With a shrinking, mostly elderly community in Kolkata, kosher meat is no longer available, so owner Adam Nahoom decided to remove chicken products from the shelves.
Adam is the fourth generation owner of the famous bakery, which was founded in 1902 by his great-grandfather, Nahum Israel Mordecai, a Jew from Baghdad. Adam’s father, Isaac, passed away last year. When the bakery first opened, it was closed on the Sabbath (Saturday for Jews), but for decades it had a weekly day off on Sundays because all other shops in New Market were closed on that day. However, it now closes on Saturdays and is open on Sundays from 9:30 am to 1 pm, when part of the market is open.
The store will also be closed on Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Passover, which marks the historic exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
‘Owner Jerusalem Order menu change in January
Jagadish Chandra Halder, general manager of Nahoom & Sons, who has been with the store for 49 years, told TOI that the decision to close the store on Jewish holidays and stop selling chicken products was taken by the owner’s family in January. “Adam, a doctor who lives in Jerusalem, asked us to stop selling chicken products. Since then, we have stopped making chicken products. We continue to sell the fish pantella and egg chop, which are in high demand,” Halder said.
Another employee said that since this is a family-run business, it is their right to set the rules. “We just follow instructions. Maybe the family that ran this company before was not so religious,” he said.
Adam, who lives in Israel, has been visiting the city twice a year on vacation since he was a child, and in March of this year he visited the city with his cousins.
Jael Silliman, who has documented and written extensively about Kolkata’s Jews, said practicing kosher food in everyday life in Kolkata has become more difficult since the mid-1980s as the number of Jews in the city has dwindled and there are no traders, including butchers, who can carry on the tradition.
“In a Jewish home, there is usually a cook who cuts the chicken according to kosher standards, but chicken can be eaten elsewhere too. Some people want to follow their faith more strictly, so it is their choice. Nahoom’s chicken patties have become very popular and customers miss them,” she said.
