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.