Kwai: The Taste of Meghalaya

By Rituraj Borthakur

Shillong, Apr 5 : "Even in Heaven, people eat Kwai," goes a popular Khasi saying. Kwai, which is nothing but a paan served with a generous dose of areca nut, betel leaf and lime, is loved by one and all in Meghalaya.

And ask the state's deputy chief minister, B M Lanong, about it, he will go into raptures describing its taste.

“It’s a part of Khasi culture. People get addicted to it,” Lanong says.

Narrating a legend about a poor couple committing suicide after being unable to treat a rich friend visiting their home, Lanong said Kwai had been a bridge between the rich and the poor ever since that tragic event.

“It is a common item you will be served with when you go to any Khasi family. A family can at least afford to give you a piece of Kwai even if they had nothing to offer you in the home,” Lanong said.

In winter, there is nothing like the Kwai with a piece of ginger to keep one warm in this part of the country. Every second person in Meghalaya chews on the Kwai at home, play or office and Khasi women selling Kwai in carryall wicker baskets is a common sight everywhere in the state.

The Kwai has been a traditional habit of Khasi and Jaintias of Meghalaya, the two primary indigenous groups of the hill State.

Kwai is an integral part of social interactions as well as on religious functions. Offering Kwai to a person is offering a hand of friendship and honour.
Over the years, Kwai sellers and ‘addicts’ have had a change of taste mainly because of interaction with other communities. So ginger became an additive to lime and betel nut in a neatly folded Kwai.

A more recent addition has been that of coconut which is alien to the culture of the Khasis and Jaintias. Kwai on offer at roadside outlets or market squares nowadays often have pieces of coconut that provide a sweet-tangy taste.

Thankfully, tobacco or tobacco products have not yet vitiated this tradition.

“No, I can never have zarda with Kwai. How would you relish the typical taste of Kwai if zarda is added?” asks Wallamphang Marbaniang, an elderly teacher.

For Kong Diamond Rani, a housewife, Kwai is best taken in its original form.

“I don’t take coconut with Kwai. This is something new which has only recently begun,” she points out.

It’s interesting to note that Kwai is intrinsic to the Khasi food habit. Its wide availability makes it easy to pamper the palate.

Both areca nut and betel vine are important cash crops of the state. Areca nuts grown in Meghalaya are sold in several parts of the Northeast.