The people of Bangladesh reflect the geographic and climatic conditions of the land as well as effect of social and religious customs. The deltaic plains of the country are drained by a large number of rivers and soaked by abundant rainfall round the year. These factors have through the ages made cultivation of rice and fishing the chief occupations of the people. Numerous varieties of rice are produced in the dry as well as wet seasons. Similarly, hundreds of species of fish are available in the rivers, canals, floodplains, haors, baors, ponds, lakes, and estuaries and in the bay of bengal. Rice and fish, therefore, figure prominently in the food habits of the people.