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This scribe tried Mundi with school friends, mostly from Marma ethnic group in Bandarban, in fact during the formative years of life. Those days, popularity of Mundi, was not known to people living outside the hill region. By this time, popularity of this food has been enormous.
It looks simple but tastes unique and the Marma people love it.
The food has been a part of their culture. Many families of Bandarban have been doing business with this food for many years.
“It represents our culture,” says Mrs Troyee Barua (pseudonym), who is doing this business for 20 years as a family tradition. She recalled that her father was involved in this business 30-40 years ago.
Marma people are quite familiar with Arakan where people are used to eating soup and Mundi.
The woman who is doing this business in her area named Boruar Tek, Kalaghata, is a supplier of noodles in Bandarban. People come to buy noodles from her as per their demand. After buying the noodles, Mundi sellers prepare them by mixing other ingredients and serve.
There is a simple process for preparing this food. The main ingredients are noodles made from rice, dried red chili powder, dried shrimp powder, mustard oil, tamarind/lemon juice, and hot water prepared with special substances. One cannot sell it without noodles because the noodles are the basic ingredient of Mundi. It involves a lengthy process.
The businesswoman said they first soak the rice for hours and the rice is then crushed through a Dheki (a traditional crushing tool). They turn the rice dust into noodle by using a machine. The noodles are dried up in the sun. “Now, it’s ready for sales… It’s a painful work and one has to keep patience for making the noodles,” she said. The price of this noodle has gone up during the pandemic due to rise in the price of rice per bag.
Asked why this is special to people, a customer at the shop said they love it as they are taking Mundi as a healthy snack since early age. A Bengali customer there said, "I love Mundi because it is a kind of soup and it is very cheap."
The price of the one small bowl Mundi is 10 Tk only. The owner of the shop said that one person can eat a maximum of 3-4 bowls of Mundi at a time. They also sell boiled eggs and chicken kebabs with Mundi. People love the combination.
This business is the only income source of their family, said the businesswoman. As this business requires lesser amount of capital and is suitable for women, she is doing this business. She said people like her who are vulnerable to business shocks need support from the government.
However, she pointed out, “This business is not all about making profit, it is also a culture of my society which I want to keep through this business”
The writer is a student at the faculty of Agricultural Economics at Bangladesh Agricultural University.