Misconceptions about Northeastern food in North-India

By: Ami Natung

Delhi is a beautiful state and one of the best for education in the entire nation. It is a place where people from different walks of life come together to pursue their dreams and passions.

Therefore, we get to see and meet people from various background with different belief systems and mentalities.

My three years of stay in Delhi helped me to know the people out there. Speaking from my experience, most of the people who are settled in or are from Delhi itself have a broader mindset compared to the people staying in Delhi for education or for jobs.

Most of the mainland Indians' perception about Northeast people is that they dress well, are good in English, have a good fashion sense and also are good Musicians and respect women. These are some of the good perceptions that they carry towards the people coming from Northeast.

But yes, that is not all as there is lot of eve teasing especially with the northeastern girls and there is a common perception is that all the girls from Northeast smoke cigarettes/weed.

The derogatory words commonly used to tease the girls coming from Northeast are: chingki, Ching Chong, momo (irony is that the Delhites love to eat momos way more than the northeastern people, I swear!).

They presume that we eat all kinds of insects and snakes, I don’t eat snakes, but who doesn’t like to eat caterpillars and bugs, right? (*wink) Also, not to mention snail and frogs, and I live for them.

In regards to food, I remember a minor incident that happened while I was still in Delhi involving me and one of my friends Kumkum who is from Delhi itself.

Once, I took her to my room to give her some homemade bamboo shoot and king chilly pickle and fermented beans (YUM!). I gave her some pickles and asked her if she wanted a little bit of fermented beans (the really smelly ones). I had told her in advance that it has a very strong smell, but she insisted to smell the beans.

I took out the smelly bean and put it right under her nose and to my utter amusement, as soon as she got the smell, she puked and I couldn’t control myself and burst out laughing loudly. After cleaning the mess, we both laughed together and it was a very sweet memory that I shall forever hold dear to my heart.