Nepalese cuisine refers to the food eaten in Nepal. Nepal's cultural and
geographic diversity has resulted in a variety of cuisines based upon ethnicity
and on soil and climate. dal-bhat-tarkari is eaten throughout
Nepal. Dal is a soup made of lentils and spices. This is served over boiled
grain, bhat—usually rice but sometimes another grain—with vegetable curry,
tarkari. Condiments are usually small amounts of extremely spicy chutney or
pickle which can be fresh or fermented. The variety of these is staggering, said
to number in the thousands. Other accompaniments may be sliced lemon or
lime with fresh green chili. Dhindo is a traditional food of Nepal.
Much of the cuisine is variation on Asian themes. Other foods have hybrid
Tibetan, Indian and Thai origins. Momo—Tibetan style dumplings with Nepali
spices—are one of the most popular foods in Nepal. They were originally filled
with buffalo meat but now also with goat or chicken, as well as vegetarian
preparations. Special foods such as sel roti and patre are eaten during
festivals such as Tihar. New food varieties have been introduced such as
taas, similar to shish kebab. Contact with Europeans has introduced
loaf bread, cheese, pastries and ice cream, as well as restaurants serving
dishes like pizza, catering originally to tourists but increasingly to local
people too. Types
= Khas or Pahari cuisine = Dal-bhat-tarkari is the standard meal
eaten twice daily. However with land suitable for irrigated rice paddies in
short supply, other grains supplement or even dominate. Wheat becomes unleavened
flat bread. Maize, buckwheat, barley, or millet become porridge-like. Tarkari can
be spinach and fresh greens, fermented and dried greens, daikon radish,
potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, pumpkin, etc.
Fruit traditionally grown in the hills include mandarin orange, kaffir lime,
lemon, Asian pear, and bayberry. Mangoes grow up to about 800 meters elevation.
Yogurt and curried meat or fish are served as side dishes when available.
Chicken and fish are usually acceptable to all but the Brahmin caste, who should
be vegetarian. Observant Hindus never eat beef. They also eschew buffalo and
yak meat as being too cow-like. Domestic pork was traditionally only eaten by
Dalits, however wild boar was traditionally hunted and eaten by
Chhetris. A strain derived from wild boar is now raised in captivity and used
for meat that is increasingly popular with Pahari ethnicities and castes that
did not traditionally eat pork. = Himalayan cuisine =
Himalayan cuisine is influenced culturally by Tibetan and closely
related ethnic groups in the Himalaya and Trans-Himalaya. Buckwheat, barley
and millet are important cold-tolerant grains often processed into noodles or
tsampa which is flour ground from toasted grain. Butter tea is made by
mixing butter or ghee and salt into strong tea. This tea preparation is
commonly mixed with tsampa flour to make a kind of fast food especially eaten
while traveling. Grain is also made into alcoholic
beverages. Potatoes are another important staple crop and food.
Substantial amounts of rice are imported from the lowlands. The meat of yak and
possibly yak-cow hybrids may be used, as well as their milk. Meat is often
prepared as momo. = Thakali cuisine =
Thakali cuisine—transitional between Himalayan and lowland cuisines—is eaten
by Thakali people living in Thak-Khola Valley, an ancient and relatively easy
trade route through the high Himalaya. This cuisine is also served in inns run
by Thakalis alongside other trade routes and in Pokhara and other towns in the
hills of central Nepal, that were said to offer the best food and
accommodations before the great proliferation of facilities catering to
foreign trekkers. Thakali cuisine is less vegetarian than
Pahari cuisine. Yak and yak-cow hybrids locally known as Jhopa were consumed by
the lower castes. All castes eat the meat of local sheep called Bheda and
Chyangra or Chiru imported from Tibet. Meat is sliced into thin slices and
dried on thin poles near the cooking fire. Blood sausage is also prepared and
dried. Dried meat is added to vegetable curries or sauteed in ghee and dipped
into timur-ko-choup which is a mixture of red chili powder, Sichuan pepper,
salt and local herbs. This spice mixture also seasons new potatoes, or eggs which
may be boiled, fried or made into omelets.
Thakali cuisine uses locally grown buckwheat, barley, millet and dal, as
well as rice, maize and dal imported from lower regions to the south. Grain
may be ground and boiled into a thick porridge that is eaten in place of rice
with dal. A kind of dal is even made from dried, ground buckwheat leaves.
Grain can be roasted or popped in hot sand as a snack food. Thakalis also
follow the Tibetan customs of preparing tsampa and tea with butter and salt.
Ghee is used in this tea preparation and as a cooking oil otherwise.
Since most Thakali people were engaged in trade, they could import vegetables,
fruits and eggs from lower regions. A large variety of vegetables were
consumed daily, some—especially daikon radish and beetroot—dried and often
prepared with mutton. Soup prepared from spinach known as gyang-to was served
with a pinch of timur-ko-choup. Apples were introduced following the arrival of
foreign horticulturists and are now widely enjoyed.
= Newars = Newars are an urbanized ethnic group
originally living in the Kathmandu Valley, but now also in bazaar towns
elsewhere in the Middle Hills. In the fertile Kathmandu and Pokhara valleys,
local market farmers find growing produce more profitable than grain,
especially now that cheap rice and other staples can be trucked in. Furthermore
Newar households have relatively high incomes and their culture emphasizes
food and feasting. Urban Newari cuisine can be much more
varied than Pahari cuisine. Newari cuisine makes wide use of buffalo meat.
For vegetarians, meat or dried fish can be replaced by fried tofu or cottage
cheese. The cuisine has a wide range of fermented preparations, whereas Pahari
cuisine has beyond a few aachar condiments.
Kwāti, kachilā, chhoylā, pukālā, wo, paun kwā, swan pukā, syen, mye, sapu
mhichā and sanyā khunā are some of the popular festival foods.
Dessert consists of dhau, sisābusā and mari. There are achaars made with aamli
fruit. Thwon and aylā are the common alcoholic liquors that Newars make at
home. = Other ethnic variations in the Middle
Hills = Buffalo meat and pork are eaten by many
janajati. More traditionally, Magars ate pork but not water buffalo while the
superficially similar Gurung did the opposite. Further east, Tamang, Rai and
Limbu have unique ethnic foods including kinema, yangben, preparations of bamboo
shoots, bread made from millet or buckwheat, and traditional Limbu drink
tongba. = Madhesi cuisine =
Food in Madhesh south of Sivalik Hills refers to mirror cuisines such as
Maithili cuisine in the east, Tharu cuisine in the west, and Bhojpuri
cuisine in the center and near west of Madhesh region of Nepal. Further west,
there is Mughlai-influenced Awadhi cuisine—particularly eaten by the
substantial Muslim population around Nepalganj.
Madhesi diets can be more varied than in the Middle Hills because of greater
variety of crops grown locally plus cash crops imported from cooler microclimates
in nearby hill regions, as well as from different parts of Greater Nepal. Fruit
commonly grown in the Terai include mango, litchi, papaya, banana and
jackfruit. Nepal has seven low elevation Inner
Terai valleys enclosed by the Sivalik and Mahabharat ranges. Historically
these valleys were extremely malarial and populated mainly by the Tharu and
Maithil people who had genetic resistance. Since the valleys were
isolated from one another, different Tharu enclaves spoke different dialects
and had different customs. They may have had different cuisines, although this
has not been very well studied. Nevertheless most Tharu historically
obtained a varied diet through hunting and gathering as well as shifting
agriculture and animal husbandry. This contrasted with diets of Pahari
Hindus that were predominantly agricultural and utilized only a few
sources of animal protein because of religious or caste prohibitions. In the
1950s when Nepal opened its borders to foreigners and foreign aid missions,
malaria suppression programs in the Inner Madhesh made it possible for
people without genetic resistance to survive there, so the Tharu and Maithil
faced an influx of people fleeing land and food deficits in the hills.
Conversion of forest and grassland to cropland and prohibitions on hunting
shifted the Tharu and Maithil in east and west away from land-based hunting
and gathering, toward greater utilization of fish, freshwater crab,
prawns and snails from rivers and ponds. Tharu also raise chickens and are
reported to employ dogs to hunt rats in rice paddies and then roast them whole
on sticks. Mutton may be obtained from nomadic hill people such as Kham Magar
who take herds of sheep and goats up to sub-alpine pastures bordering the high
Himalaya in summer, and down to Inner Madhesh valleys in winter. Increasing
competition for land forces the Tharu and Maithil people away from shifting
cultivation toward sedentary agriculture, so the national custom of
eating rice with lentils gains headway. The Tharu or Maithil also have unique
ways of preparing these staples, such as rice and lentil dumplings called bagiya
or dhikri and immature rice is used to make a kind of gruel maar.
Taro root is an important crop in the region. The leaves and roots are eaten.
Sidhara is a mixture of taro root, dried fish and turmeric that is formed into
cakes and dried for preservation. The cakes are broken up and cooked with
radish, chili, garlic and other spices to accompany boiled rice. Snails are
cleansed, boiled and spiced to make ghonghi. Another short compendium of
Tharu and Maithil recipes includes roasted crab, wheat flatbread fried in
mustard oil, and fried taro leaf cakes. = Lohorung cuisine =
Lohorung are indigenous to eastern Nepal. They have a variety of food in
their cuisine made from local ingredients. Some of them are Tongba,
Wachipa, Wamik, Masikdaam, Kinima, Sibring, Sel roti, Bawari, Dhule Achar,
Saruwa, Chamre, Yangpen, Dibu, and so on.
= Snacks = Snacks include maize popped or parched
called khaja; beaten rice, dry-roasted soybeans, dried fruit candy, and South
Asian foods like the samosa and South Asian sweets. International snacks like
biscuits, potato chips and wai wai are all coming into widespread use. Whereas,
some youths in Nepal prefer western snacks as they are easy to get and less
time consuming. = Beverages =
Tea usually taken with milk and sugar, juice of sugarcane, and buttermilk are
common non-alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages include raksi,
spirits made in rustic distilleries, and jard, homemade beer made from rice. At
higher elevations there is millet beer. Etiquette
Meals are traditionally eaten seated or squatting on the floor although urban
restaurants have tables and chairs. A large mound of bhat or a pile of roti is
served on a thali—a rimmed brass or stainless steel plate about 12"/30 cm.
diameter. The rice is surrounded by smaller mounds of prepared vegetables,
fresh chutney or preserved pickles, and sometimes curd/yoghurt, fish or meat.
Soup-like dal and vegetables cooked in sauce may be served in separate small
bowls, to be poured over the rice. Food is brought to the mouth with the fingers
of the right hand. The left hand—traditionally used for certain
toilet purposes—should never touch food but may hold cups and glasses. The right
hand should be rinsed before and after eating.
Although Nepali society is moving away from caste-based discrimination and
becoming less mindful of ritual pollution, these concepts can still hold
sway in traditionally minded upper caste households. In such contexts water
itself is highly subject to pollution, affecting containers as well. Clay or
wooden containers must then be discarded while metal containers require ritual
scouring. You will often find people drinking water by pouring it into their
mouths rather than touching their lips to the container to avoid polluting the
container and contents. Dry-cooked grains—including beaten rice
and roasted soybeans or corn—and rice pudding cooked in milk rather than
water, as well as raw fruit are less subject to ritual pollution. These foods
can be accepted from any clean caste but not from the Dalit. However water and
foods cooked with water can be problematic. Traditionally they are not
to be cooked or touched by a person of lower caste than the recipient. For this
reason even in a polygamous household the first wife should not be of lower
caste than the husband. Foreigners and members of many partially
Hinduized janajati ethnic groups may occupy an ambiguous space, neither fully
untouchable nor fully "clean". They may not be welcome inside upper-caste homes
and should not presume to enter without being invited. Upper-caste Hindus may
decline to eat with them at all, or may avoid eating foods that most subject to
ritual pollution. Breaches of dietary etiquette were made
criminal offences in Muluki Ain—the main corpus of civil law—in 1854 and not
decriminalized until 1962. Since 1962 discriminatory customs have been falling
into disuse among educated and urban Nepalis, yet they often prevail in the
countryside. Guests and visitors should try to conform to tradition until
clearly instructed otherwise by their hosts.
See also References
Further reading Löwdin, Per [1986]. "Food, Ritual and
Society: A Study of Social Structure and Food Symbolism among the Newars".
Retrieved 17 November 2013. External links
Guide to Nepali food Saidi, Nicole. "In search of Nepal's
culinary identity." CNN. 14 October 2011.
Nepali food recipes Nepali food
Authentic Nepali food