Food & Cuisine
Rice, fermentation, smoke and the king chilli — one of the most distinctive food cultures in India.
Northeast Indian food is unlike anything else in the country: lighter on oil and spice, built on rice, and defined by freshness, smoking and fermentation. Bamboo shoot, fermented soybean and fermented fish, foraged greens and herbs, river fish, pork and the fiery king chilli appear again and again, prepared with a simplicity that lets each ingredient speak. For a traveller, eating here is one of the surest ways to understand the region — every community has its own kitchen, and almost none of it is what 'Indian food' means elsewhere.
The flavours of the Northeast
Rice, always
Rice is the staple everywhere — plain, sticky, or the prized black chak-hao of Manipur — and the plate is built around it rather than around bread.
Fermentation
Fermented soybean (akhuni/axone in Nagaland, tungrymbai in Meghalaya, kinema in Sikkim), fermented fish (ngari in Manipur, shidal in Assam and Tripura) and fermented bamboo shoot give the cuisine its deep, pungent, umami character.
Smoke & the king chilli
Smoked pork and smoked fish are staples of the hills, and the raja mircha (bhut jolokia / king chilli), among the hottest chillies on earth, is used with fearless enthusiasm.
Forage & freshness
Wild greens, herbs, banana flower, colocasia, ferns and river fish are gathered fresh; boiling, steaming and stewing keep the food clean and light.
Eight kitchens
Each state has its own cuisine — here is what to look for.
Assam
Try: Masor tenga, khar, aloo pitika, duck with ash gourd, pitha, xaak
The Assamese thali balances a sour fish curry (masor tenga) against khar, an alkaline dish made with a filtrate of sun-dried banana peel. Fresh, subtle and rice-led, finished with pithas (rice cakes) and, of course, Assam tea.
Meghalaya
Try: Jadoh, dohneiiong, tungrymbai, doh-khleh, pumaloi
Khasi and Jaintia food centres on pork and rice: jadoh (red rice cooked with pork and offal), dohneiiong (pork in black sesame), and tungrymbai (fermented soybean). Garo cooking adds foraged greens and the sticky nakham.
Nagaland
Try: Smoked pork with axone, bamboo-shoot pork, king-chilli chutney, zutho
The Naga kitchen is built on smoked meat, fermented soybean (axone) and the raja mircha. Smoked pork with axone is the signature dish; accompaniments are simple boiled vegetables and blistering chutneys. A famously fiery, meat-forward cuisine.
Manipur
Try: Eromba, chak-hao kheer, ngari dishes, kangshoi, singju
Meitei food is light, herby and largely oil-free: eromba (boiled vegetables mashed with fermented fish and chilli), the herb salad singju, the stew kangshoi, and the celebrated black-rice pudding chak-hao kheer. Fermented ngari is the soul of the kitchen.
Mizoram
Try: Bai, vawksa rep, sawhchiar, misa mach poora, chhangban
Simple, boiled and steamed: bai (a stew of vegetables, bamboo shoot and pork with a touch of baking soda) eaten with rice, and vawksa rep (smoked pork). Mild, clean and comforting — Mizo food is the least spicy in the region.
Tripura
Try: Mui borok (with berma), wahan mosdeng, chakhwi, mosdeng serma
Tripuri cuisine (mui borok) is defined by berma, a dried-and-fermented fish, used in dishes like the pork salad wahan mosdeng and the bamboo-shoot stew chakhwi. Distinct from the Bengali food of the plains, and rarely found outside the state.
Arunachal Pradesh
Try: Thukpa, momos, bamboo-shoot pork, apong, khura, pika pila
As varied as its tribes: Tibetan-influenced thukpa, momos and butter tea among the Monpa of the west; smoked meat, bamboo shoot and the rice beer apong among the Tani and eastern tribes; and pika pila, a fiery Apatani fermented-bamboo-and-pork pickle.
Sikkim
Try: Momos, thukpa, gundruk & sinki, phagshapa, chhurpi, tongba
Himalayan comfort food: steamed momos and thukpa noodle soup, the fermented-greens gundruk, phagshapa (pork with radish), the cheese chhurpi in soups and pickles, and tongba, warm millet beer sipped through a bamboo straw.
Eating well in the Northeast
- Vegetarians are well catered for in Assam, the Manipur valley and Sikkim, but the hill cuisines are strongly meat-based — ask ahead in Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya.
- Fermented ingredients (soybean, fish, bamboo) smell strong but taste wonderful — this is the heart of the cuisine, well worth trying.
- The king chilli (raja mircha) is genuinely one of the hottest in the world; treat any dish that features it with respect.
- Eat where locals eat — markets like Ima Keithel in Imphal, small-town kitchens and homestays serve the most authentic food.
- Wash it down with the local brew where it is legal and offered: apong, zutho, tongba or a fine cup of Assam tea.