Cuisine of Meghalaya

Meghalayan cuisine is the local cuisine of the Indian state of Meghalaya. Meghalaya is home to three Mongoloid tribes; it has a unique cuisine, different from the other Seven Sister States of northeast India. The staple food of the people is rice with spicy meat and fish preparations. They rear goats, pigs, fowl, ducks and cows and relish their meat.

The popular dishes of Khasis and Jaintia are Jadoh, Ki Kpu, Tung-rymbai, and pickled bamboo shoots; bamboo shoots are also a favorite dish of the Garos. Garos eat most non-domesticated animals, though their everyday staples are simple foods such as rice with kapa, cooked with a special ingredient called karchi which is made up of filtered ash water. Kapa can be of different kinds, such as with various kind of meats, vegetables, etc. Besides these, for Garos eat minil (sticky rice prepared by steaming), sakkin gata, and other dishes. These steamed foods are prepared like dumplings (momo). Garos also eat dried fish (nakam) and other dried smoked meats (gran). Like the other tribes in the northeast, they also ferment rice in order to prepare rice beer, a traditional drink which is consumed in religious rites and at major ceremonies and celebrations.

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