The night was dark, the path was muddy, but sparkling lights illuminating the main door helped guide our way towards the main hall of the Abbey at Sutton Courtenay. My friend and I had been invited to attend an evening celebrating the street food of Kolkata (Calcutta).

After spending a year saying no to all those delicious Indian spices I love so much when eating only British food, it goes without saying that my taste buds were tingling with anticipation.

The Abbey is a retreat, education and conference centre, tucked away in four acres of mixed garden and woodland, at the far end of the village. The house itself is a beautiful Grade 1 listed medieval building with an inner courtyard which links back to the work of Benedictine monks in the 13th century. It is now managed and run by a small residential lay community, who have maintained the welcoming and meditative atmosphere for which it was originally built.

Angus Denoon, who has spent the past five years making a film on the street food of Kolkata, had arranged the evening. He is a trained chef who has worked in some of the best kitchens in the UK, but who insists that nothing he has cooked or eaten in Britain compares with the taste experiences offered on the streets of Kolkata, which he describes as the most delicious, nutritious food you can buy anywhere.

He says that the food of the streets tastes alive.

“Food prepared in hotels often lingers in a fridge for days before it is used, whereas everything cooked on the street is fresh. Nothing is left for the next day.”

But that’s not the only reason Angus was moved to make the film. He is also full of admiration for the street cooks’ skills. “They make the most out of not very much, and bring out flavours using the most basic of ingredients. The dexterity with which they mix batters, shape their breads and grind their spices is second to none. Their food is blessed by hand and human touch,” he said, adding that he sees street food as food from the people for the people.

Street food of Kolkata is bare wire cooking, over hot coals, which is prepared without power or refrigeration in extreme conditions that would never pass the stringent health and hygiene rules operating in the UK.

But Angus reminds us that the food is cooked fresh and eaten immediately, so we should not be put off by the primitive nature of the cooking equipment, or the streets in which it is prepared.

Most of the street dishes mix the sweet, the sour, the salt, the bitter, the pungent and the hot together, such that with each mouthful you experience an amazing explosion of flavours on the palate.

The basic ingredients include lime, chilli, coriander leaves and spice, pink onions – which have such a soft flavour they can be eaten raw like an apple – and black salt, which is included in most dishes as it is said to cool the body and bring out the sweetness of fruit. Tamarind pulp, amchar (the powder from dried mango) and turmeric, which not only adds colour to a dish but acts as a natural disinfectant to foods, are used frequently too.

Angus explained that a day on the streets begins and ends with chai (tea).

“Everywhere you will find chai stalls, and if you do not find them, a wandering kettle will find you. It’s made using boiled buffalo milk that makes for a richer tea. When the tea flakes have been added, ginger, cardamom and sugar is added too.”

The egg bougia man is there to supply omelettes to start the day, which are flavoured with salt, masala, onion and maybe chilli and served on a small strip of paper.

Angus began the event at the abbey by mixing up finely chopped tomato, cucumber and spices with mouri (a dry rice puffed up in hot sand), roasted peanuts and crunched puris, which he served in a cone of paper. We were also offered a glass of freshly squeezed lime juice, flavoured with black salt and sugar.

We munched the contents of the cone while watching his film Street Food Kolkata, which is filled with the most bewildering images of the city from dawn to dusk, moving rapidly from one cooking process to another. One moment you see bare hands whisking a batter, the next you see vast pots of boiling oil in which the batter is cooked to a crisp. Yellow mounds of split pea curry, steaming silver pots of biryani, and piles of freshly baked roti and chapati breads vie with each other for attention as the images come and go.

Angus aims to travel the country with this film, and hopes to show it to schoolchildren so that they too can experience the sensory experiences, sounds, smells, sights and tastes of Kolkata. You can see a trailer for the film by going to www.vimeo.com/8076899.