Cadbury Weds Mishti:

Fusion, Taste and Selling ‘Authenticity’

Abstract

This essay is an ethnography of ‘Cadbury Mishti’¹ – a new taxonomic category generated by the promotional campaign jointly run by a Chocolate giant and the Branding Solutions Team owned by Eastern India’s largest Media house. Since 2011, sweetshops from Kolkata and other districts had been invited to participate in a three to four-month long competition to create chocolate-based delicacies. Sweets in Bengal are primarily made from chhana (coagulated milk separated from whey water) and kheer (desiccated milk). Through an ethnographic engagement with the process of making of ‘Cadbury Mishti’ I demonstrate how ‘inter-referentiality’ of place, and cultural sameness created through kin-ties go into the making of ‘fusion food’ in today’s India. This process is remarkably unique. Here the technology remains local and the core narrative of ‘authenticity’ is hinged on the celebration of craftsmanship.