Food Intern goes Traveling Again

October 07, 2016

Food Intern goes Traveling Again

After years of wanting, months of anticipation and weeks of planning, in less than 10 days I am finally off on my first (of hopefully many) trip into the North East of India!

That’s right, I’m off on a 10-day trip with my father, through the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, in the North-eastern Seven Sisters.

State of Meghalaya (Source: Wikipedia)

And by exciting coincidence, while we are putting together our trip plans, there’s an awesome new show airing on Fox Life – “Kalki’s Great Escape”! Just like in the show, mine too is a 14-day long (train rides included) father-daughter road-trip through the hills of the North East, to explore its culture, people, and food.

It’s been no mean feat planning this trip, with little knowledge of what to expect, where to go, what to see and with whom to stay.

The planning began over a month ago. Between my father and I, there was a lot of digging, reading, watching of videos… digging up contacts of friends, friends of friends, travel bloggers, food companies based there… then emailing them, calling them, texting them, asking questions… and finally hashing out a 10-day travel plan with bookings and all. Some of our accommodation and transport plans are still being finalised!

But oh, the anticipation…

Traveling all the way across the country, I definitely want to see things that one does not find in other places, so the Sacred Groves of Mawphlang, the transparent river in Dawki and the Living Root Bridges are definitely on the list, among other gems.

But given my longstanding fascination with tribal and indigenous food cultures, and traditional food knowledge in the interiors of India, my main aim is to try and experience as much of the Khasi food culture as I can. There’s just so much I’m looking forward to learning on this trip.

I have made food exploration trips in the past, with the aim of learning about a region’s food history and culture. In July 2011 and again in December 2013, I went to the Coonoor/Kotagiri region in the Nilgiris, home of the honey-hunting Kurumba tribes; in January 2014, I went to Kutch, India’s largest district located in Gujarat; and in April 2015, I went to Chettinad, the land of the regal Chettiars, down south.