I'm just about to leave the village of Khonoma, in Nagaland,
northeastern India, when a gregarious middle-aged man sweeps me into his
kitchen. His wife shoves a plate of porridge onto my lap and a cup of hot water
into my hands. We talk about food, drink, travel, life.
This is the way it always is, in Asia. My fondest food memories stem from
moments or hours spent in people's kitchens. When a villager invites me
"inside," it is always to the kitchen—the gathering room, where
everything happens. Many rural Asian homes—huts, hovels, shacks,
cottages—have a kitchen and a bedroom, no more. The bedroom is rarely open to
outsiders, so it makes sense for the kitchen to become a "great room"
of social encounters. Everyone sits on benches or tiny stools—or even the
bamboo floor—beside smoke-blackened walls. Food is made and eaten here. Guests
are welcomed and blessed. Everyone is warmed by an eternal fire that keeps the
whole scene going.
Most amazing: these meetings often occur when villagers spot me, a white
stranger, walking down the village path. It's true hospitality, unmatched
anywhere my travels through the West.
The Gathering Room
01.09.08
- Keywords
- karen coates,
- asia,
- india,
- culinary culture
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