Flavours of people: Assamese home chef blends fragments of farmers' feast with Mumbai's food culture

A limited portions menu by an Assamese home chef introduces fragments of a farmers’ feast into Mumbai’s multi-ethnic food culture

A band of little darlings are following their mother’s lead across an endless sea of paddy. Their muddy calves and beaming faces are set on crossing a one-pole bamboo bridge. They’re marching on to break bread with their tribe. Mention Hawri and Gitika Saikia, a city-based food curator from Assam, pulls out corresponding childhood visuals with wide-eyed wonder. She can’t tell if she is the outdoorsy kind, but she has always liked sharing a meal of sticky rice balls and meat curries with her farming community. “In my growing-up years, we used to live in staff quarters. Right before our people could start planting paddy saplings, we returned to our village. My mother kept reminding us that we could enjoy the feast at home, too, but eating in the open on banana leaves already had us beguiled,” she recounts.

Gahori tengamora bhut jolokia

In Assamese, planting paddy saplings is called kothiaa-ruwa. Hawri is the feast organised by a host for every assisting farmer on the completion of the first day of paddy transplantation. The host might invite members to their house or serve the meal in the fields. With a view to preserve her culture miles away from her homeland and relive traditions that vary even within the larger community of tribals, Saikia’s two-day menu will feature season specials. “The idea is to cook with fresh, seasonal produce. I carried these greens on my way back from the Northeast over the last weekend. It is a limited-edition fare as if not, the greens might perish.

Gitika Saikia

There will be dhekia gaaj chana/chicken (black chickpeas or chicken prepared with fiddlehead ferns and bamboo shoot) and kosuthuri pork (pork in taro leaves) among other variations — dishes that will be served with rice and Indian olive pickle. “The food has to be considered in the light of the hard work that farmers have just finished in the fields. It was always high in protein and packed with nutrients,” the home chef reasons. Saikia explains the interesting disparities among tribal groups, “My paternal roots lie in Upper Assam; there, Hawri is served with rice beer but that’s not the practice amid Bodos. I married in the Bodo tribe; among them, rice parcels and black chana chutney is a breakfast staple. Chickpeas lend energy and are crucial for physical toil.” She explains that many Bodo families prepare the sweet and ripe pumpkin of the monsoons for supper.

Saikia reckons that widening our knowledge systems about an under-reported area is often about picking up popular names. That’s how Bihu, a spring festival, dovetails our common parlance. “I wanted to uphold the smaller festivals as they brilliantly paint a nuanced people.” The curator says Hawri signifies service: “In my state, farmers join others to help them till their land without any payment. It is natural for us to come together in groups.” Her food shines in similar generosity, we think.

On: July 26 and July 28
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