Dhaka: As food prices rise, low-income workers in Dhaka are quietly giving up the fish and meat they once ate regularly. At lunchtime, a small roadside eatery near the Azimpur Etimkhana intersection fills with rickshaw pullers and other low-income workers. They sit on low stools around makeshift tables, eating plates of rice with whatever they can afford. For some, there is an egg. For others, a serving of mashed vegetables or a small piece of fish.
According to United News of Bangladesh, not long ago, the same eatery regularly served rui, hilsa, chicken, and beef. Today, many of those items have become too expensive for its regular customers. Mohammad Baser, 53, who has been running the footpath restaurant with his wife Salma, 40, for nearly a decade, has watched the change unfold over the years. He says the rising prices of essentials have gradually forced his customers to cut back on their food choices. “People used to buy rui, hilsa, chicken, and beef. Poor people can no longer afford those foods,” Baser said. “Now eggs, fish eggs, chicken eggs, pangas, punti, and other cheaper fish sell more.”
The change in the customers’ plates has also hit the couple’s business. Baser said the eatery once recorded daily sales of Tk 8,000 to Tk 10,000. Now, sales have fallen to around Tk 3,000 to Tk 3,500 a day. It is not simply that customers are eating less outside. They are choosing cheaper food. A piece of fish or meat is increasingly replaced by an egg or a serving of bhorta. More expensive fish are replaced by cheaper varieties.
For people who depend on daily earnings, these seemingly small changes reflect a much bigger struggle: making their income stretch far enough to cover food and other basic necessities. Salma has noticed another change among her regular customers. The growing use of battery-powered rickshaws, she believes, has also altered the eating habits of some drivers. When pedal-powered rickshaws dominated Dhaka’s streets, rickshaw pullers had to exert considerable physical effort throughout the day. After hours of pulling a rickshaw, many would stop for a filling lunch of rice. Now, with battery-powered rickshaws becoming increasingly common, some drivers do not feel the same need for a heavy midday meal. Many simply have tea and bread and continue working, returning home later for a proper meal.
“More people used to eat rice at lunchtime. Now many just have tea and bread and carry on,” Salma said. “Besides, because the prices of essentials have gone up, many cannot afford fish or meat.” The modest eatery at Azimpur offers a telling glimpse into how rising living costs are changing the food habits of Dhaka’s low-income population. For families and workers living on limited incomes, inflation does not always mean giving up a meal altogether. More often, it means quietly compromising on what goes into that meal.