THE SEVEN SISTERS

The Seven Sisters: Kitchen Tales from the North East takes us on a journey through the villages, sleepy towns and burgeoning cities of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, culminating in the kitchens where families gather around the stove to cook, eat and celebrate life. As North Easterners from across India and around the world disclose both family lore and the secrets of cuisine passed down generations, we meet a daughter-in-law who preserves the recipes she learnt as a bride in the house of her new family, a son who keeps alive the memory of his mother through the dishes that enchanted his childhood, a grandson on distant shores who sees the sunset of his hometown in the aromatic haze rising from his kitchen stove–and much more. Here we are led on a discovery of culinary delights and cultural revelations of an unsung region. There is more to food from the land of the Seven Sisters than momos, and, no, dogs do not vanish from their streets only to appear in kitchens, and frogs don’t leap onto the dining table! In fact, while much of the world has woken not so long ago to the wonders of slow cooking, seasonal products and a no-oil, no-sugar diet, in the North East, that flavour is a time-tested one. The smorgasbord has something of everywhere–from the killer Raja Mirchi of Nagaland to the simple delicacy of Pork Bharta from Tripura (cover image), to the mildly flavoured Chahou Kheer (purple rice porridge) from Manipur... Pick up this passport and newly discovered kitchen turf in the hills, plains and valleys of this colourful region.