If fish in Kolkata seem fatter and healthier, well there's a new secret ingredient behind this. It's biryani from Hyderabad which is being fed to fish in Andhra Pradesh's aqua farms.

If fish in Kolkata seem fatter and healthier, well there's a new secret ingredient behind this. It's biryani from Hyderabad which is being fed to fish in Andhra Pradesh's aqua farms, says a report in Telegraph.

According to the report, "a fleet of designated trucks does the rounds of Hyderabad’s 1,200-odd eateries that produce about 500 tonnes of biryani every day" and take with them the leftovers to "the fisheries of Krishna, Guntur and East and West Godavari." The report notes that these are the key suppliers to Kolkata's fish markets.

The leftover biryani is cheap and costs only Rs 50 per kg. It is mixed with other fish feed and given to the carnivorous and omnivorous fish, noted the report. Naturally fish breeders are happy with the bargain they've struck given that they are getting the biryani at such low rates.

One breeder Dayakar Naidu told the paper, “Biryani makes my fish shine and weigh more.” Another Ramakrishna Naidu, a fish breeder from Eluru, also vouched for the benefits of Biryani saying that fish reach their normal weight "in eight to ten months if fed animal waste or biryani."

Of course in a country where many go hungry daily, the decision of the restaurants to sell left overs for a quick profit instead of handing them out to the poor seems callous and cold-hearted. However, for the fish and fish breeders, the biryani party will probably continue for some time.