Assessing the Zo Social Reality through Food in Zo Folk Narratives

Mansonkim V

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i01.63630

Assessing the Zo Social Reality through Food in Zo Folk Narratives

Author(s)	Ms. Mansonkim V
Country	India
Abstract	The introduction of Food Studies and the growing interests in the field over the last couple of decades have further supplemented the existence and prevalence of hegemony and power relations – race, class, caste, gender, sex – at work in human societies. Food as a focal point of discourse entails the derivation that it can be an important identity marker and social marker of class status and hierarchy, that it can make or unmake a society, cohere and mobilise communities, or destabilise and subvert order. Such inferences allow indigenous people groups more impetus to challenge the pressure of assimilation and appropriation of dominant/superior cultures, which they have been constantly subjected to. The indigenous Zo ethnic tribes (constitutionally known as Kuki-Chin) who inhabit the frontier regions of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh like any north-eastern Indian have been victims to stereotypes and labels such as ‘barbaric’, ‘uncivilized’ and ‘backward’ not only because of their underdeveloped hilly terrain settlement but also because of their distinct culinary practice which consists mainly of non-vegetarian meals when the majoritarian food norm is vegetarian. The body of Zo folk narratives records an active and vibrant foraging and hunting/agrarian society. It is through a selective study of these narratives, the paper attempts to address the hierarchical and polarised dichotomy of the aforementioned food cultures. It will also highlight and study the customs and laws within the Zo indigenous knowledge system to understand the tribes’ practice of their non-vegetarian gastronomic culture. The paper simultaneously will delineate the functioning inherent hegemony in Zo society – gender hierarchy, social stratification etc. embedded in the act of meat-hunting/eating.
Keywords	food, food politics, indigenous culture and knowledge, hunting, meat
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 1, January-February 2026
Published On	2026-01-15
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i01.63630

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Assessing the Zo Social Reality through Food in Zo Folk Narratives

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