Food Habits of North-East- INTRODUCTION

                                                                                          Food Habits of                                                               North-East 

Article By,  Nazia Ara Ansari http://nekhana.blogspot.com/

People are generally neither informed nor well aware about the North-East Food culture. I have been living in North East since childhood and here, I am to make you people know about the vibrant and rich food culture of North – East, India. North East Zone of India consists of seven states, popularly known as “Seven Sisters”. States which come under this zone are: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur. Sikkim is also added in recent days. Pitha North-East is a topic which draws a lot of attention. You would find the culture of North East totally different from the plains. Food forms an essential part of the culture of North East India. Food culture in this zone is much different from the rest of the country. People prefer to have simple food with fewer ingredients. Inhabitants though are a balanced mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Steaming and frying are popular methods of cooking. Rice Is the staple food in this zone. Due to its geographical location eastern India grows a lot of Rice. People consume rice in variety of forms and flavours such as; Pitha (rice based sweet) is very popular dish in Assam which is especially cooked at the time of Bihu. Boiled rice cakes wrapped in leaves is famous snack in Arunachal Pradesh. Apong or Rice Beer made from fermented rice is a popular beverage in Arunachal Pradesh, and other parts of North East as an alcoholic drink. Fish remains the favourite dish for most of the states. Tenga mash (sour fish) is famous dish in Assam. Dishes prepared from Bamboo Shoots are very much popular in North East zone. Bamboo Shoots are even used for making pickles.  Bamboo Shoot People of North East prefer to have rice and other food is just a side dish. Cuisine in this part of India is really nutritious as main ingredients are herbs, organic vegetables and fermented Bamboo. You will find the food culture of North East is distinct from the plains. In Arunachal Pradesh, people prefer to cook rice in the hollow bamboo over hot coal to give it a different flavor. You can well imagine how will it taste? Fried food is not very popular here as the people like to eat either Boiled or Smoked food. In my next post I would briefly mention about the food culture of a specific state of North East. So get ready to explore the magnificent and delicious flavor of North East food.

Food served at Public Gathering

Mithun Meat served with Rice