East Zone of India is a hot mix of
vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Cultural and lingual diversity along
with rich histories and geographic heterogeneity of the encompassing states
makes the cuisine of this zone unique and unsurpassable.
Fetish
of the people of
West Bengal for fish, rice
and sweet is legendary and contributes a significant lot to the popular
cuisine of not just east zone but also the national cuisine of India. Part
of
Orissa also share the love for fish and rice
with the state of West Bengal due to the long coastline the duo states
shares on the Bay of Bengal. Fish and other sea food are in plenty in this
region and so are the recipes.
People in
Bihar and Jharkhand love
their platter with all the colours of seasonal vegetables which grow in
abundance and rich variety here. Influence of Buddhism is apparent here as
majority of the population practice vegetarianism. The state came under the
influence of mighty Mughals once and naturally the famous Mughal cuisine
left its mark here too.
What unites Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa is the magical mix of
seeds used for tempering dishes. Known as 'Panch Phoran', the mix consists
of aniseed, mustard, fenugreek seed, cumin seed and black cumin seed.
Sikkim has a completely different cuisine as compared to
other states of this zone. Cuisine of this state shows apparent influence of
food culture of neighbouring countries, especially Tibet. Momos of Sikkim
are loved by people all over the country.
