The paite hosts in the villages have a special game. Does anyone remember the 'East meets West, local knowledge' adverts from HSBC? The unfortunate banker finishes plate after plate of sushi while the host feels his generosity is being questioned and provides increasingly large fish. In Mizoram they play both parts, it's British wartime mindset meets overbearing hospitality. I've seen pained reactions on the faces of other local people in two different houses that confirm it is in fact a game of sorts.
The rules are as follows:
The host places some rice on your plate
You must finish your plate
The host may add more rice at any time, unless physically blocked by a ready hand, or intercepted by a correctly timed word. When local people feel that the host has fouled by placing rice in violation of these rules they can return the rice to the pot (it's big lumps of sticky rice) with their hand. Unfortunately this breaks my cultural hygiene rules and so I am denied this escape.
The objective is limiting the quantity of rice on your plate. To look away is to lose, especially towards the latter stages of the meal when you might be feeling distracted. If you need to leave the table for example to fetch a napkin you must accept that this will have a high rice penalty of anything up to a filled plate. It's not just looking away, you need to keep the hand ready, reaction time is a factor. If looking down at the plate keep your peripheral vision trained to spot any approaching scoop of rice.
To say it is a rice based diet is an understatement. The people eat rice, and rice. In the case of the poorer families the rice is only topped with the most sparing green leaf, or vegetable water. Often vegetables will be cooked with rice to bulk them out a bit, and then a small quantity of rice and vegetable is spooned onto the rice. If any meat is present, which isn't every meal, it's often cooked with rice. In general you start with rice, and add small spoonfuls of the 'curries' as you go (if they are curries imagine a hipster deconstructed curry, the blandest vegetables Britain never boiled and in one pot, and in another inedibly hot chilli chutney). Dal is quite common, it's mixed with the rice, but lentils cost about 8 times as much as rice by the kilo so go easy. Much as with the rice game, you must follow the rules. Never take too much curry, or fill your plate at the start, and don't take too little. Curries too can leap into an unattended mountain of rice.
The rules are as follows:
The host places some rice on your plate
You must finish your plate
The host may add more rice at any time, unless physically blocked by a ready hand, or intercepted by a correctly timed word. When local people feel that the host has fouled by placing rice in violation of these rules they can return the rice to the pot (it's big lumps of sticky rice) with their hand. Unfortunately this breaks my cultural hygiene rules and so I am denied this escape.
The objective is limiting the quantity of rice on your plate. To look away is to lose, especially towards the latter stages of the meal when you might be feeling distracted. If you need to leave the table for example to fetch a napkin you must accept that this will have a high rice penalty of anything up to a filled plate. It's not just looking away, you need to keep the hand ready, reaction time is a factor. If looking down at the plate keep your peripheral vision trained to spot any approaching scoop of rice.
To say it is a rice based diet is an understatement. The people eat rice, and rice. In the case of the poorer families the rice is only topped with the most sparing green leaf, or vegetable water. Often vegetables will be cooked with rice to bulk them out a bit, and then a small quantity of rice and vegetable is spooned onto the rice. If any meat is present, which isn't every meal, it's often cooked with rice. In general you start with rice, and add small spoonfuls of the 'curries' as you go (if they are curries imagine a hipster deconstructed curry, the blandest vegetables Britain never boiled and in one pot, and in another inedibly hot chilli chutney). Dal is quite common, it's mixed with the rice, but lentils cost about 8 times as much as rice by the kilo so go easy. Much as with the rice game, you must follow the rules. Never take too much curry, or fill your plate at the start, and don't take too little. Curries too can leap into an unattended mountain of rice.
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