Kishwar Chowdhury unveils new book: "We had no reference point for our food"

When Kishwar Chowdhury served dishes such as panta bhat, mashed eggplant, and korma in the kitchen of the TV show MasterChef Australia, she quickly realised something important: for many people in the Western world, there was no reference point for these foods. Before they could appreciate the flavours, they needed to understand the history, culture, and stories behind them.

That realisation eventually evolved into Smoke, Rice, Water: Recipes and Stories from a Bengali Home. Two weeks before its official release, the much-anticipated book was unveiled in Dhaka at an intimate event held at The Westin Dhaka. During the launch, Kishwar shared the inspiration behind the project and introduced some of the collaborators who helped bring it to life. Alongside recipes, the book explores Bengali history, migration, family legacies, and cultural identity.

For Kishwar, who was born and raised in Australia, the book fills a longstanding gap. She often felt that while bookstores around the world featured countless titles on global cuisines, there were very few that truly introduced readers to Bengali—particularly Bangladeshi—food through the lens of its people, culture, and way of life.

Kishwar gained international recognition after finishing third on MasterChef Australia in 2021. Yet that success marked only the beginning of a larger mission. Since then, she has hosted pop-up dinners, trained at renowned Melbourne restaurants, collaborated on international projects, and continued championing Bengali cuisine on the global stage. Smoke, Rice, Water represents the latest chapter of that journey.

Speaking at the Dhaka launch, Kishwar noted that despite there being nearly 300 million Bengali people worldwide, international representation of Bengali culture remains limited. For many, South Asian cuisine is still synonymous with North Indian dishes, butter chicken, or Bollywood-inspired imagery. Bangladesh’s food culture, however, is distinct, diverse, and deeply rooted in history.

Her experience on MasterChef Australia reinforced this reality. She came to understand that presenting a recipe alone was not enough; the story behind the food mattered just as much. Food, she believes, is never merely food. It carries memories, migration histories, geography, identity, and belonging.

This belief forms the heart of Smoke, Rice, Water. The book is not simply a collection of recipes but also a memoir, a cultural record, and a reflection on the immigrant experience. It weaves together stories of family, the culinary traditions of different regions of Bangladesh, and the realities of growing up Bengali in Australia.

Kishwar’s own life is deeply embedded in those stories. In Australia, her parents grew many Bangladeshi vegetables themselves because they were difficult to find locally. By adapting to their new environment while preserving their culinary traditions, they turned the family dining table into a powerful space for maintaining identity and connection to home.

The project is also profoundly personal. Kishwar began working on the book just two months after her mother’s passing. The process prompted her to revisit her roots, her family history, and her inheritance. In many ways, she describes writing the book as a homecoming—a means of creating something that would preserve an authentic Bengali voice for her children and future generations.

Another remarkable aspect of the book is its visual storytelling. From the outset, Kishwar wanted Bangladesh’s story to be told by Bangladeshis. As a result, she collaborated with Bangladeshi photographers, illustrators, and creative professionals to ensure that every image and design element reflected the country’s textures, realities, and emotions. Despite initial challenges in convincing the publisher, she succeeded in bringing together a team whose work enriches the book’s authenticity and beauty.

Although it took considerable effort to convince the publisher, Hardie Grant, Kishwar said she ultimately succeeded in bringing her vision to life.

As a result, the book is enriched by the stunning photography of Ata Mohammad Adnan from Dhaka and Rana Pandey from Kolkata, while the food photography was captured by Armele Habib. The illustrations by Dhakaiya add a distinctive new dimension to the cookbook’s visual identity, and the book’s overall design was crafted by Aki Chan.

The possibility of a Bengali translation was also discussed during the event. While the publishing rights currently remain with the publisher, Kishwar suggested that a translation could become a reality if there is sufficient interest from readers.

Ultimately, Smoke, Rice, Water is not merely an effort to preserve the past; it is an invitation to engage with it. Kishwar hopes readers will not only follow the recipes but also reinterpret them, experiment with flavors, and make them their own. Cooking, she argues, is not static—it is a living cultural language that continues to evolve.

Her greatest hope is that readers will come away with more than new dishes to cook. Through the simple yet evocative imagery of smoke, rice, and water, she wants them to discover the stories of a people and a region whose food sustains the lives and cultures of nearly 300 million people. In the end, the book stands as a moving testament to memory, identity, and the Bengali experience itself.