A small dinner table can carry food knowledge a long way. From October 2026 to February 2027, cooks and chefs connected with Meghalaya’s Khasi, Garo and Jaintia traditions are taking part in a 14-event programme across major Indian cities, introducing guests to the state’s indigenous ingredients, regional recipes and traditional cooking practices. The journey began on 22 October with Tribal Expressions, an event at a Bengaluru hotel. [1]
The roadshow gives that introduction two distinct scales. Seeti In Your City centres on small, curated dinners bringing chefs, traditional cooks and guests around the same table. Fire & Feast Festival opens the invitation more widely, with a public programme built around barbecue, live-fire cooking, music and community. Both initiatives are being organised by Meghalaya Tourism and the state-run Meghalayan Age Limited in collaboration with the Seeti Movement. [2][3]
Over four months, the programme is due to travel through Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Goa and Hyderabad. Its premise is straightforward: the food traditions of Meghalaya remain largely unfamiliar beyond their home state, particularly among audiences in India’s larger cities. Rather than asking people to understand those traditions from a distance, the events place cooking and dining at the centre of the encounter. [1]
That approach makes room for more than a collection of dishes. The initiative is intended to introduce urban audiences to local culinary communities and the traditional knowledge surrounding Meghalaya’s food, while expanding the reach of its food culture beyond Northeast India. It is also designed to support tourism and trade, linking the pleasure of a meal with attention to the people and places from which it comes. [1][2]
The contrast between an intimate dinner and a larger live-fire festival gives the tour a useful breadth. One format allows cooks and guests to gather closely; the other creates a public celebration around food, music and community. In each case, ingredients and cooking practices become a way into Khasi, Garo and Jaintia heritage without separating food from the people who sustain it. [2][3]
With the Bengaluru opening completed and further dates planned through February, the table is now moving across India. For diners encountering these traditions for the first time, the invitation is both simple and substantial: to meet a region through its cooking, and to recognise that a recipe may also carry local knowledge, community and a sense of place. [1][3]
Yum Opinion: I like that the programme treats cooks and local communities as essential to understanding a cuisine, rather than presenting dishes without their human context.