Today we would know about a Jewish bakery that serves centuries-old baked delights. The capital of West Bengal isn’t just home to traditional Bengali sweets. Kolkata houses a variety of sweets, founded by the immigrant communities that have lived here for hundreds of years. Kolkata’s New Market is an age-old delight that city-dwellers love to visit. The market covers a large area that first opened in the year 1847 on Lindsay Street. Gradually it continues to attract a large number of shoppers. There is one particular store that happens to be the highlight of the place. Known as Nahoum and Sons, or just Nahoum’s.
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118 Years Old Jewish Bakery In Kolkata
Calcutta has had an incredible past, cosmopolitan and vibrant. In the year 1902, Nahoum Israel Mordecai, a Baghdadi Jew, founded the bakery. Nahoum Israel Mordecai, much like other Jew families, had moved to Kolkata from the Middle East. Though Kolkata’s Jewish population has shrunk to double digits today, the city was once home to 4,000-6,000 Jews in the first half of the twentieth century. Today, with very few Jewish families left in the city, Nahoum’s is a historical landmark that beloved by all. Today, all that has changed, but the love for Jewish sweets has not. Especially during Christmas, the bakery is thronged by city people, who love to celebrate the year-end like no other city in the country. Israel began his bakery business with a door-to-door model, and his sweet treats captured the attention of the colonial rulers.
It wasn’t until 1916 however, that the eponymous store — Nahoum and Sons, the actual name — was established in the New Market area. To date, the store runs from the same location. Continues to carry the same interiors, as it has not been changed since then. Nor has the food on offer –not much, really. From behind the teakwood counter of Nahoum’s, the city has been getting its incredible sweet treats for 118 years now. That is not going to change anytime soon.
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The Jewish Bakery
The menu isn’t always accurate. The challah bread and baklavas will surely bring you back again. Then, there is the Christmas special fruit cake, black forest cake, rum balls, and their cheesecake is actually a creme puff. Despite dubious names and old-fashioned recipes, Nahoum’s has never lacked takers. Originally patronized by the colonial rulers, a local legend says that Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury, once declared the baker’s fruit cake to the best he had ever tasted.
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Sweet Taste Of Nostalgia
In a city that flourishes in the fine line between the old and new. It is not surprising that Kolkatans of all ages continue to love Nahoum’s. Driven simply by the sweet taste of nostalgia. Head to New Market today, and the store is filled with colorful displays of cakes, rum balls, and decadent cream-filled cakes. But the real crowd gathers during winter. When people line up in front of the store, on the days before Christmas and new year’s eve to get their fill of Yuletide treats.
