Soybean-Based Fermented Foods of Northeast India

Abstract

Soybean has long been an important protein source with high nutritive value, which has served as nourishment for people all over the world. The northeastern regions of India have been home to a wide range of ethnic tribes and communities, where each tribe has its own unique culture, customs and cuisines. They are also known to prepare and consume traditionally fermented soybean foods as a part of their diet, which provide the basic components of diet with diverse characteristics of nutrition, flavour, palatability and texture. Soybean-based northeastern foods include kinema (Sikkim), bekang (Mizoram), hawaijar and chagempomba (Manipur), tungrymbai (Meghalaya), akhuni/aakhone/axone (Nagaland) and peruyyan (Arunachal Pradesh). Fermentation bestows unique flavours boosts nutritional values an