New Delhi, March 28 -- Sociologist Ishita Dey's book, Sweet Excess: Crafting Mishti in Bengal, maps an exciting and insightful gastronomic journey through the sweet-making industries of West Bengal and Bangladesh (erstwhile East Bengal). As readers follow her through this landscape of shared histories and cultures, cleaved by borders, they sit for a while in Baby Ghosh's humble kitchen in West Bengal's Krishnanagar, watching her deftly lift sar or a thick layer of cream (the base for the region's heirloom sweets sar bhaja and sar puria) from kadhais of bubbling milk; or stop at Bijoy Modak's sweetshop, also in Krishnanagar, to observe skilled karigar Krishna Sanyasi make mango sandesh in wooden moulds; or hop across the border to sample N...