When a wave of South Asian immigrants settled in Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1960s, they didn't find foods they were used to eating, so they ordered groceries in bulk from New York or London. But armed with their masala dabbaa multicompartment spice boxthey transformed Southern vegetables into Indian delicacies at home and slowly, Indian grocers gained a foothold in Atlanta. Then in 1973, civil engineer Ashok Bhattacharyya changed the city's culinary landscape forever when he created the restaurant called Calcutta. He served Punjabi dishes like naans and tandoori chicken, different from the Bengali foods they ate at home. South Asians socialized freely there, and the family hosted events like Atlanta's first communal Durga Puja in their home. Young cooks practiced their craft at Calcutta, contributing to a spate of Indian openings in the 1970s and '80s. While it closed in the '80s, Calcutta inspired successive generations to envision their own versions of South Asian cuisine in the American South.

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