author(s)
Arlina Rahman, Sunayan Bordoloi and Salma Mazid

abstract
Edible insects are important dietary components which are consumed as food in many developing countries. Insects are quality food items that can provide substantial amount of nutrients essential for maintenance of health and protection from age related diseases. The ethnic people of India consume different insects as food. Practice of entomophagy is quite common among the ethnic individuals of North East India especially among the tribes of Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and to a lesser degree by the tribes of Mizoram and Meghalaya. The tiwa are an ethnic community of Assam. Certain species of edible insects are found abundantly in Tiwa villages. The present study was conducted to record the status of entomophagy in tiwa community of Morigaon district, enlist the diversity of edible insects and determine their nutritional value. It was found that 15 species of insects belonging to 6 orders such as Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Hymenoptera, Odonata and Isoptera of class insecta are consumed by the Tiwa people. People use these insects as their regular diet or during special occasions. Nutritional value of the insects consumed was also determined and it was found that they were rich in nutrients especially in proteins, suggesting their use as good nutritional supplements of balanced diet.