From the hills of the Northeast to the Deccan plateau comes Meghalaya on a Plate, a 10-day food festival at A Origins, Hyderabad Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre. The festival spotlights the culinary traditions of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo communities.

The showcase centres on indigenous cooking practices where rice anchors the meal. Drawing from tribal kitchens across the state, the menu highlights techniques such as fermentation, smoking, curing and ageing, methods that give the cuisine its characteristic depth, umami-rich complexity and pungent flavours.

Chef Ahmedaki Laloo, popularly known as Ahme, who heads A Origins, says this will be her first pop-up in Hyderabad and she is keen to see how diners respond to the cuisine.

“The menu is divided into two sections,” says Ahme. “The first is an authentic Meghalaya spread that spotlights traditional cooking techniques shaped by fire, fermentation and slow cooking.”

Among the dishes is smoked chicken with axone, in which chicken is slow-cooked with fermented soybean over firewood, resulting in a pronounced smoky depth. There is also tungrymbai, a Khasi preparation of fermented soybeans cooked with mustard oil, aromatics, black sesame and chicken, and doh neiiong, a well-known Khasi meat dish defined by its robust black sesame profile and characteristic dark colour.

Rice remains central to the menu through pumaloi, a soft steamed rice preparation, accompanied by wild ferns and other traditional dishes featuring black sesame.

“Diners can expect a flavour language shaped by woodsmoke, fermented bamboo shoots, black sesame and slow-cooked meats,” says Ahme.

The second section of the menu, titled Progressive Nibbles, reinterprets Meghalaya’s native ingredients through contemporary techniques. Indigenous produce such as sohphlang, sohiong, Lakadong turmeric, perilla and wild pepper is presented in modern forms while preserving the integrity of its original flavours.

Ahme’s calling to the kitchen came rather unexpectedly during a classroom exercise critiquing Shakespeare as a literature student.

“I graduated from St Anthony’s in Shillong and then studied culinary arts in Manipal,” she recalls. “After that, I worked in several places. One morning in Bengaluru, as I was admiring the clouds and trees, it struck me that while I had invested so much effort in learning international cuisines, I had spent very little time understanding my own food.”

Ahme dropped everything and spent four months back in Meghalaya, reconnecting with the food of the hills, local ingredients and age-old techniques. When she found her direction, she knew her food had to be deeply rooted in tradition.

Meghalaya on a Plate will be on from June 19 to 28, dinner only, 7.30 pm to 11.30 pm. Priced at ₹3,000 (vegetarian set menu) and ₹3,500 (non-vegetarian set menu) at Hyderabad Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre, Tank Bund Road, Hyderabad. For reservations: +91 966621166