ABSTRACT
Folklore has always been a source of amusement, filled with values, beliefs, instructions for doing certain works, cooking manuals, eating manuals and many social phenomena which verbally transmitted since generations. Folklore across the world varies from region to region and folklore of each region speaks something about their cultures. Folklore of Assam reflects a lot about the Assamese culture. Many Fokora jujona (idioms), Dakor Boson (Sayings of Dak), proverbs, folktales, folk songs reflect food habits of the Assamese people. Food has been a recurring theme that can be observed in the Assamese folkloric traditions. Through the medium of amusing stories, and the depiction of the food and culinary practices of the people, the folktales reflect a glimpse of the Assamese society and culture. It reflects how agriculture has been the main source of livelihood of the Assamese people since time immemorial. Sometimes food has also been used to describe certain situations or habits of people. The paper aims to examine select tales incorporated in the Lakshminath Bezbarua's Burhi Aair Sadhu as to how food habits and practices have been represented within these folktales. Further the study aims to explore the references of agriculture within the text, to identify food as narratives and to understand the cultural and moral significance reflected through the medium of food.
