A culinarian voyage to Manipur

Just coming back from an evening with my collegue and her little sister - again, kind of the only people of may age in the office... and indeed, the name of the blog develops already into some kind of concept... M. and R. have been treating me with their local food from Manipur, one little state in the north-eastern corner of this huge piece of history, geopgraphy and culture. Some huge brown beans - huge like cucumbers - boiled cooked with potatos and chilly, later mashed in some sort of curry, spiced with rotton fish; dal; fried vegtables coated in a spicy flour mix; eaten with the general asian rice basis. Very tasty. But never ever tast the food yourself while cooking - its apparently a big "no do".

Their political system seems a bit out of "life of brian", where 36 differnt rebel groups are supposedly fighting each other over the delcaratory right to lead the people of Manipur into independence. Each one asks a "tax" from the people to liberate, which makes each Manipuri pay again and again. All of this is then toped up by Indian Government (Police, Military, Bureaucracy) trying to keep their share of influence and power in this region.