“Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.” – ConfuciousA tiny cereal grain, predominantly white in colour — this is the rice people in Northeast love so much. Rice is an agricultural commodity and the staple food of the people here, they have an obsession with the ‘holy grain’! The love of rice by the Assamese has earned them the name ‘Bhotuwas’ one who devotedly loves and can take rice almost in every meal.Visit any household in Assam or an ethnic restaurant for lunch or dinner; you’ll definitely be served with rice on a platter! Rice with an assortment of traditional herbs, ‘aloo pitika’, dal and fish is a must for a proper lunch meal in Assam. The non-vegetarian element can be anything between fish, duck, chicken or mutton though.Rice grounded and mixed with elements like jaggery and sesame gives us the ‘Til Pitha’, the same with coconut and sugar element gives the ‘Narikhol Pitha’. Rice steamed in the lid of a kettle and offered with coconut and jaggery gives us the ‘Tekeli Pitha’ or Kettle Pitha. In addition to being a food item, rice is also a sacred element. It is used as a pious element in festivals, religious events, weddings and rituals. People in the Northeast take different varieties of rice — there is the sticky ‘Bora Saul’, the aromatic ‘Joha Saul’, the upland ‘Ahu Saul’, the nutritious ‘Black Rice’, the ‘Bao Dhaan’ or ‘Red Rice’ and the mud rice or ‘Boka Saul’.