Garo

As with most parts of the North East, the tribes of Meghalaya have developed different styles of house building, basketry, weaving and the an cooking indigenous food. Garo cuisine is simple to cook with small variations that bring in rich flavours. One of the important ingredients in preparing Nakham Bitchi (a hot spicy soup) is the special dry fish(Nakham).Preserved fish or meat is widely used in a variety of cooking methods. Fish or meat is preserved either by drying in the sun or smoked over the fire. The fish/ meat is usually boiled with either yam, pumpkin, ash gourd, etc with plenty of chilies and a little bit of bamboo ash water. The dish is cooked either in pots or in fresh bamboo cylinders over an open fire giving it a special bamboo flavour. A variation of this is the wrapping of meat/fish with herbs, in banana leaves and baking it over campfire coals. A typical Garo meal would consist of rice, one or two meat/fish dishes and of course the relishing dry fish soup.

Jaintia

In Jaintia hills one gets a wide variety of mushrooms -specially during the early monsoon months. During this season mushrooms of different types are available in the local market (lawmusiang) of Jowai. There are many ways to cook these mushrooms but one of the most exquisite dish is made with a locally available mushroom called 'Tit Tung', a kind of fermented mushroom. After cleaning the mushrooms thoroughly it is fried with black sesame seeds and pork. The flavour leaves one craving for more.

Khasi

The Khasi taste buds are different ftom the traditional Garo way of cooking. To begin with, there are different varieties of rice to choose ftom. there is 'Jadoh' which is red hill rice cooked with pork and is something akin to biryani. 'Jastem' is plain hill rice cooked with pork gravy, onions, ginger and turmeric thus giving it a characteristic yellow colour. 'Mylliem chicken' is famous in these parts and gets its name from the vil1age where it was first prepared The chicken is cooked with different condiments, most notably, the small round Khasi peppers which gives distinctive taste and flavour. 'Dohkhlieh' is a type of pork salad made with boiled pork and onions with a sprinkling of chillies as desired. Anther tasty pork dish is 'Dohneiiong'. A dish which has gravy and is made with black sesame seeds to give it its dark texture.
All states in the Northeast have their own types of fermented soyabeans. The Khasi version is called 'Tungrymbai'. It has a strong odour and is very popular especially during the winter season as an integral part of Khasi food Also very popular are different types of rice 'pancakes'. Pumaloi' is powdered rice which is steamed in earthern pots called 'Khiew Ranei'. 'Pukhlein' is powdered rice mixed with jaggery which is then deep fried. 'Pudoh' is plain powdered rice stuffed with small pieces of pork and steamed. 'Putharo' is again plain powdered rice steamed