Nagaland: Lydia Kirha Interview

Interview Date: 09/02/2022

*** To keep the authenticity of the interviews, everything was transcribed/translated exactly or very close to what they said, so there may be a few grammatical errors. Please be understanding about it, and we hope you enjoy getting a glimpse of the interviewee’s thoughts and experiences!***

1. Could you tell us your name, ethnicity, and place of origin? 

• Name: Lydia Kirha
• Ethnicity: Indian 
• Origin: Nagaland

2. Could you explain your culture, and what it means to you? 

Naga is a huge community. It’s like the umbrella, and under Nagas, we have the subtribe. I belong to the Rongmei tribes. So I grew up as a Rongmei family in the state of Manipur. It’s kind of complicated since I cannot say I know all my cultures because it is so mixed with other cultures. We are very conservative, and we value marriage, religion, family, good morals, and we grew up with those principles. As far as food is concerned, we grew up having rice and potatos, lots of vegetable, and maybe a meat dish. You eat meat once in a week. One important thing about the Rongwei culture is that whenever someone visits you, you have to offer tea. When we cook food, we always cook extra. We grew up learning to always open up your house to strangers, and we share. 

3. How does your traditional tea differ? What makes it special? 

Our grandparents had their own tea garden, so we grew and make tea. It’s part of their lives. Everything is from scratch. During summer holidays, I remember going to my grandparents, knead the tea leaves, dry it in the sun, and go through the whole process. If you don’t offer tea to someone, it’s very bad. You’re not being hospitable, not nice, not kind. Tea is a part of sharing something in your life. 

4. Why did you decide to make this dish? 

The main is the pork with bamboo shoots. I made it because it is the most common dish that you’ll find in Nagaland because that is something every household makes since the ingredients are easily available and the dish is easy to make. It’s something you have at home. When you cook pork, you don’t want too much of fat, and the sour bamboo cuts the fat, so it balances out the whole flavor. Anytime you go to Nagaland or a Naga house, it will be very common for you to find this dish. 

The other one is, I don’t know the specific name, but we just call it Kolar with meat and fermented beans. Other people use smoked pork, but I like using pork neck for the flavor. Beans is something farmers back home grow a lot, so beans (ex: pinto beans) is common. For us, beans is like dal (dal is very popular in India and a commonly used ingredient). 

5. Do you have a specific or treasured memory of this dish or relating to this dish?

Like I said, it’s a comfort food. Whenever I make it, I definitely remember home because that is where we eat it. We didn’t grow up on hamburgers or pizza. I mean, your childhood memories is your rice, your beans, your meat. These food remind me so much of home. It just bring back memories of how everything began. 

6. Is this representative of a typical meal you have, or is it more for special occasions?

It’s more of a representation of a regular meal. It’s not for a special occasion, sort of like an everyday sort of thing.

7. Are there specific cooking techniques or tools for preparing food that have a special meaning in your community? If so, why, and what is the history associated with it?

I don’t know. Well, when it comes to meat, we like meat with a little bit of bones, a little bit of fat. We don’t like meat as in just meat. The bone and the fat add flavors to the food, so I alway like to buy whole chicken instead of just buying the parts. I like to use my tiny log. Actually, some of my neighbors, they were cutting down the trees, so my husband asked them to cut a log because that is how we like to cut our meat. So he brought that home. It’s something you find back home, and the stump is what you use. It’s doesn’t break, it’s sturdy, and I feel much more comfortable using that to cut. We even brought a dao, it’s a big knife. That’s what you used commonly to cut your meat. Every Naga household has this as a tool to cut your meat and bones, and it’s either in the kitchen or hanging on the wall. I also like the mortar and pestle to pound my garlic, onions… whatever I have, I bring it from home (Naga). I feel like it’s tastier instead of the steel blades that cut. It has more flavor when it’s pounded. Also, I feel like the Indian pressure cooker cooks better. 

8. How has the American culture influenced your cultural habits and traditions?

Whatever you get in the stores here, it’s convenient. Everything is ready to use, such as the powered seasonings and the smoked pork neck I used. We don’t have to start from scratch to make everything. It’s convenient, but when it comes to flavor and taste, it’s not as good as when you cook something from scratch. Ideally, I would do everything from scratch. The influence would be the convenience. Living in a fast-paced world, and you’re busy all the time, so you want things done in a short amount of time, so you like all the convenience. But for us, growing up, we use fireplace to cook, but here, you don’t have to go through all that. Everything is convenient. So you tend to go with the flow. Like, you microwave everything, and you’re not really thinking about your health when you’re saving time. Of course, we’re concerned about health, but we’re also concerned about time. For me, you observed I used powdered onion instead of cutting it and using raw onions. 

9. How has marrying into your husband’s tribe impacted the way you cook?

It has impacted a lot because as a wife, you cannot cook the way you like it because your husband doesn’t like it. I have to learn to understand his liking, and it’s not like I don’t like it. I like it too, so I started cooking in a way trying to blend everything in, so we both like the way we cook as husband as wife. For example, I learned how to cook that beans with dried meat from my mother in law. She showed me, and I remembered how to make it in the way according to their tribe. That’s something I learned and I really like it. My husband is from the Angami tribe, and it’s from Nagaland. A lot has changed because I grew up eating simple food, anything that is available. Before you’re married, you are not concerned about food but more on college, so I wasn’t really concentrated on cooking. It’s only after I got married I thought about cooking food that is healthy and all the family can eat. It’s like growing and learning to blend and balancing everything ing out to suit your lifestyle. 

10. Was the food you prepared something that was passed down from generation to generation or did you learn the recipe on your own?

I would say it’s more on passed down. As I said, I learned how to cook some dishes, such as the one I learned from my mother in law. Other dishes, such as the mainstream Indian dishes, my husband and I grew a liking to it, and we made it, such as chicken curry, biryani, things like that. 

11. Do you know the historical context of the dish?

That, I don’t know. In the sense, our grand parents, our great-grandparents, and such, they’re all hunters. They have to hunt for food, so it’s something they hunt, would bring home, and smoke the meat so it would supply them for the months or the season. So dyring and smoking meat is something we learned. Also, the beans is something they grew, so they had that as staple and sometimes sell. Then rice is a staple, so I guess we were agricultural background, and they grew all kinds of produce. So that is what they bing home and eat. Then they also eat their hunts. It’s a big deal for big festivals, for big deals, for weddings.  For example, we come home after five years, so they kill a pig for us. You know, it’s something that you have for special occasions, for big festivals of your community. 

12. Does every family have the same way of cooking your dishes or does it differ from family to family? 

For example, the way I cook the pork, say my sisters would maybe fry it. They would put some oil, some onions, and they’ll also add the bamboo shoots. For me, I like cooking without the oil because the fat already has so much. The way we cook chicken is different. I use a lot of turmeric, a lot of garlic, ginger, and my side of the family, sometimes they prefer not to use it. Again, the interesting thing is, a lot of families in Naga don’t use turmeric. I guess they don’t grow it. But in Manipur, the state that I come from, we use a lot of turmeric, fresh turmeric, in cooking. Even cooking yam, we use turmeric and dried meat. My siblings, the way they cook is different from the way I cook.

13. What was your journey to the USA?

That’s a big question. Moving for us, my husband and I are from a mission background. My husband was a graduate of Rhema, and he started a church after coming back to India. We met in the city that he started his church in. After we got married and had kids, by that time, it’s been over 10 years of pastoring. We just felt led to leave the ministry and start something afresh as Christians, so we handed over the church. To cut a long story short, he met a person who was his spiritual father who invited him to a Christian university in Oklahoma city. As we were thinking about quitting the ministry, this opportunity came, so we felt like seeing what’s out there, and we went to study. After a couple of years, we felt we should apply for a green card, and we got it in 2016. So, the whole process is us coming here, and we apply. We said, this is God. If we get it, we get it, and if we don’t, He would shut the door for us. Surprisingly, just after a couple years, we got a green card, so we felt this was a door God opened for us, and we came in 2017. We’re here now.

14. Do you have any words of wisdom?

Well, work hard. I think wokring hard is something you need to be focusing on. Especially us, immigrants. We are in a new country where we are not born in, and we don’t have that freedom to say, “I can do whatever I want in whatever way I want it.” We cannot live like that. We come here to make our lives better. For us to get to a place and say that “I succeeded,” I think it starts from working hard. And just be humble. You know, give your best shot, not matter what. Challenges will come. 

The other thing I will say is don’t ever feel small. Don’t ever feel that you’re different, you’re lower. Don’t ever feel that way. Alway know that the person next to you is also feeling the same way you’re feeling, whether they are from a different race or a different country. Every one of us, we’re all human beings, so we are all the same. The way we think is not so different from the other person’s way of thinking. Just stay focused in what you believe in and what you want to achieve. Work hard, give your 100% or more, and then, think on adding value to somebody’s life. You must know “I can add onto somebody,” and for you to do that, you need to come to a place where you feel confidence and worthy, where you have that self-worth. Because if you don’t have self-worth, you will not have confidence, and you will not feel valuable. If you’re not valuable, you will not be adding value in other people’s life. So feel valuable, that’s what I would say. Just go and have a great time.