New Delhi: Snail soup, sweet pineapples and apong—The Family Man’s third season put the spotlight on food and drinks from the Northeastern states of India. In one of the episodes, Rukma, played by Jaideep Ahlawat, offers apong to his guest Meera, played by Nimrat Kaur, sprinkling a few drops for ‘spirits’ to consume. He explains his actions based on the local belief that the spirits are kept happy by offering rice beer.
Apong is indigenous to the Adi tribe that lives in Arunachal Pradesh and the Mising tribe, a community in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The Adi tribe holds the GI tag for apong.
Apong has two types, depending on ingredients—Nogin Apong and Po:ro Apon. Nogin Apong is made by fermenting cooked rice along with starter cakes made of local plants. Po:ro Apon is fermented using sticky cooked rice. Nogin Apong is mainly prepared for everyday consumption, while Po:ro Apong is prepared for special occasions like weddings and festivals.
These are not traditionally bottled, packaged and sold. Families and communities make them for their acquaintances, or for special occasions. In some villages, they are sold in bulk, but in cities, some eateries might offer them as accompaniments with food, and the cost can vary from Rs 50-500. In Arunachal Pradesh recently, a brand, Siang Beverage Pvt, launched two bottled variants of the apong, one of which is amkel, made from black rice. The other is the Po:ro apon.
A common drink
Rice wine and beer are an integral part of the cultural experience of the region. They are often brewed and prepared at home, not just to partake in social drinking, but also as offerings in ritualistic ceremonies, too. In Assam, there is laopani or xaaj, which are made by the Ahom and Tiwa communities.
The Dimasa tribe has their own version, which is called the Judima. It has also received a GI tag in 2021. It is prepared from a starter kit and is distinguished by the use of a wild herb local to Dima Hasao district called thembra (Senegalia pennata). It has a distinct sweet taste and takes around one week to prepare.
In neighbouring Tripura, the local drink of choice is Chuak, made of boiled rice mixed with medicinal herbs and stuffed into earthen pots with crushed banana leaves. There is Zutho of Nagaland, Manipur’s Sekmai Yu and Meghalaya’s Kiad Um, which are also made from various varieties of rice. In Himachal Pradesh, one can find Lugdi, a traditional rice beer which was also mentioned in the Deepika Padukone-Ranbir Kapoor starrer Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013).
Handia, a rice-based alcohol, is popular in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar. Down South, there is Sonti made in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Sunda Kanji of Tamil Nadu.
In bigger cities, rice beer is mostly found in restaurants or homestays offering traditional food. These are not sold like regular alcohol in liquor shops.
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Country liquor, but not hooch
Country liquor forms an integral, albeit dangerous, part of alcohol consumption habits in most states of India. But unlike the indigenous rice beer and wine, these, though extracted from natural ingredients, are then mixed with alum, calcium carbide or methanol, to give it a higher content of alcohol.
One example is Sulai of Assam. It is usually prepared by fermenting molasses, often mixed with alum and calcium carbide. It is popular in the state as the alcohol content of sulai is higher than the rice beer traditionally prepared at home. In neighbouring West Bengal, there is Cholai, a spurious illicit liquor made from jaggery or rice. Adulterated industrial alcohol is later added to this concoction to make it strong.
These spurious liquors have also led to multiple deaths over the years.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)