The northeastern Indian region of Meghalaya is rich in native food traditions. Set between Bangladesh and Bhutan, it is a lush, hilly area of forests, lakes and heavy rainfall. Waterfalls and living bridges draw visitors, but many villages remain reached by only a small number of roads.
That distance has helped preserve customs connected to the land, from growing rice to keeping bees and preparing fish. The traditions are not museum pieces; they remain part of household work, village celebrations and local markets.
Keeping the traditional ways
A gathering focused on indigenous food communities brought visitors and delegates to Shillong, where people shared knowledge about the foods and farming practices maintained in Meghalaya and neighboring regions. Visits to nearby villages offered a more direct view of those customs.
Indigenous food communities
This report is part of a series examining food traditions, biodiversity and the people working to sustain them.
Related reading: Native cultures push for sustainable food solutions · The fight to preserve traditional pastureland
In Mosakhia, a small village in the Jaintia Hills, residents recreated Beh Dienkhlam, a festival usually held during the summer. Wooden oxen effigies are carried on a platform while villagers move through the celebration with singing, dancing and drums. The ceremony expresses a wish for protection during the rainy growing season.
Small rice terraces around the village produce a local brown-rice variety. At harvest time, women cut and gather the rice while men thresh it by hand, keeping a rhythm of work that is both practical and communal. The grain is valued as a nutritious part of the local diet.
An ancient method of beekeeping
Local beekeepers use hollowed sections of tree trunks, placing them near forests and natural rock crevices. The hives attract regional bees, and the honey reflects the plants flowering around them.
This method depends on close observation and generations of practical knowledge. Only a small number of people continue it, making the practice especially vulnerable as landscapes and livelihoods change. The honey is sold locally and connects forest stewardship with household income.
Fish that’s a delicacy
In the rural village of Umladkhur, fish are cleaned, secured with bamboo and carried to a smokehouse. Several hours over local wood give the fish a concentrated flavor and allow them to be stored for later use or taken to market.
Residents describe how earlier mining affected nearby waterways and fish populations. As extraction has declined, river life has begun to recover in some areas, although the effects remain part of local memory. Smoked fish from the villages is sold in Jowai, providing an additional source of income for families.
Going to market
Back in Shillong, the market rises along steep lanes lined with stalls. Vendors display local produce, plants, grains and prepared foods, creating a vivid record of what grows in the region and what people choose to preserve.
For Meghalaya’s remote communities, food traditions are part of a living system. Rice terraces, forest hives, river fish and market stalls all depend on knowledge passed between generations—and on landscapes cared for well enough to keep that knowledge useful.