A band of little darlings are following their mother’s lead across an endless sea of paddy. Their muddy calves and beaming faces are set on crossing a one-pole bamboo bridge. They’re marching on to break bread with their tribe. Mention Hawri and Gitika Saikia, a city-based food curator from Assam, pulls out corresponding childhood visuals with wide-eyed wonder. She can’t tell if she is the outdoorsy kind, but she has always liked sharing a meal of sticky rice balls and meat curries with her farming community. “In my growing-up years, we used to live in staff quarters. Right before our people could start planting paddy saplings, we returned to our village. My mother kept reminding us that we could enjoy the feast at home, too, but eating in the open on banana leaves already had us beguiled,” she recounts.

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