Bombay duck
Encyclopedia
The Bombay duck or bummalo (Harpadon nehereus, Bengali
: bamaloh or loita, Gujarati
: bumla, Marathi
: bombil) is, despite its name, not a duck
but a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai
(formerly Bombay) and Kutch in the Arabian Sea
, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal
. Great numbers are also caught in the South China Sea
. The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed. After drying, the odour of the fish is extremely powerful, and it is usually transported in air-tight containers.
. In Bombay, the local english speakers then called it so, but it was eventually corrupted into "Bombay duck". Although the likelihood of this origin is questionable, it does have the authority of a BBC Radio 4 interview in August 2006.
According to local Bangladeshi stories, the term Bombay duck was first coined by Robert Clive, after he tasted a piece during his conquest of Bengal. It is said that he associated the pungent smell with that of the newspapers and mail which would come in to the cantonments from Bombay. The term was later popularised amongst the British public by its appearance in Indian restaurants across the country.
(EC) of the European Union. The EC admitted that it had no "sanitary" evidence against the product and the UK Public Health Laboratory Service confirmed that there are no recorded cases of food poisoning, or bacterial contamination, associated with Bombay Duck. It was banned because the EC only allows fish imports from India from approved freezing and canning factories. Bombay Duck is not produced in factories.
According to "The Save Bombay Duck campaign", the Indian High Commission approached the European Commission about the ban. The EC adjusted the regulations so that the fish can still be dried in the open air but has to be packed in an "EC approved" packing station. Now a Birmingham wholesale merchant has found a packing source in Mumbai/Bombay and the product is again available.
The BBC
notes that consumption in the United Kingdom
prior to the ban was over 13 tonnes per year.
Bombay Duck is available fresh in Canada in cities with large Indian populations, such as Toronto and Montreal and is generally known as bumla. Although mainly popular with Indians from southern Gujarat, coastal Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, it is increasingly consumed by the other South Asian populations.
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
: bamaloh or loita, Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
: bumla, Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
: bombil) is, despite its name, not a duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
but a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(formerly Bombay) and Kutch in the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
. Great numbers are also caught in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
. The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed. After drying, the odour of the fish is extremely powerful, and it is usually transported in air-tight containers.
Etymology
The origin of the term "Bombay duck" is uncertain. The shoals of fish on the Eurasian continent were separated when the Indian plate moved into it, dividing the species along the coasts of Eastern and Western India. When the rail links started on the Indian sub-continent, people from the eastern Bengal were made aware of the large availability of the locally prised fish, on India's western coasts and began importing them via the railways. Since the smell of the dried fish was overpowering, its transportation was later consigned to the 'Mail' Train. The mail train __ the Bombay Mail or the Bombay Dak __ thus reeked of the fish smell and 'You smell like the Bombay Duck', was a common term in use in the days of the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. In Bombay, the local english speakers then called it so, but it was eventually corrupted into "Bombay duck". Although the likelihood of this origin is questionable, it does have the authority of a BBC Radio 4 interview in August 2006.
According to local Bangladeshi stories, the term Bombay duck was first coined by Robert Clive, after he tasted a piece during his conquest of Bengal. It is said that he associated the pungent smell with that of the newspapers and mail which would come in to the cantonments from Bombay. The term was later popularised amongst the British public by its appearance in Indian restaurants across the country.
European Union restrictions on imports
In 1997, Bombay Duck was banned by the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
(EC) of the European Union. The EC admitted that it had no "sanitary" evidence against the product and the UK Public Health Laboratory Service confirmed that there are no recorded cases of food poisoning, or bacterial contamination, associated with Bombay Duck. It was banned because the EC only allows fish imports from India from approved freezing and canning factories. Bombay Duck is not produced in factories.
According to "The Save Bombay Duck campaign", the Indian High Commission approached the European Commission about the ban. The EC adjusted the regulations so that the fish can still be dried in the open air but has to be packed in an "EC approved" packing station. Now a Birmingham wholesale merchant has found a packing source in Mumbai/Bombay and the product is again available.
The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
notes that consumption in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
prior to the ban was over 13 tonnes per year.
Bombay Duck is available fresh in Canada in cities with large Indian populations, such as Toronto and Montreal and is generally known as bumla. Although mainly popular with Indians from southern Gujarat, coastal Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, it is increasingly consumed by the other South Asian populations.