New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- As the monsoon arrives in Himachal Pradesh, the women of Gunehr village near Bir Billing trek up to the forest to collect chambu. The snake leaf, named so for its leaves that look like a snake's hood, grows wild at the height of 2,500m, and is the traditional food of the Gaddi community. It is boiled, chopped and kneaded into a dough with spices to make chamode-steamed, doughy balls that are eaten with a spoonful of ghee.

"Chambu is a prized foraged green, so much so that the women hide it when carrying back to protect it from evil eye," says Anoop Chugh, who runs Gunehr Sound Museum, where he documents the soundscapes of the village, its people and the surrounding forests. As an extension of his museum experience T...