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Most of
the good restaurants in Bhutan are located in the hotels only.
Buffet is the preferable way of eating in these restaurants.
The staple food of Bhutanese is rice and vegetables with abundant
chillies. Spicy chilies mixed with a cheese sauce called emadatse
are the national dish of Bhutan. Chilies are treated as a
vegetable rather than a seasoning in the Bhutanese diet. A wide
variety of fresh vegetables are a daily part of the Bhutanese
diet. Red and white rice are served at all meals. Meats, poultry
and fish are also found on many Bhutanese menus along with Tibetan
momos and noodle dishes. Bhutan's professional chefs temper their
natural tendency to over spice dishes by preparing food more
suitable to western taste ranging from Continental to Chinese.
Bhutanese, Tibetan and Indian cuisines are also available. Pork
fat is popular in the wilds because of its high energy content -
visitors find it almost inedible because it's usually stale.
The Bhutanese also eat a variety of vegetables, including
potatoes, fern, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, and onions. These
vegetables are often cooked with a small bit of fresh cheese. In
central Bhutan, buckwheat is the main staple because the altitude
is too high to grow rice. The Bumthang region is known for its
buckwheat pancakes and noodles. Common beverages in Bhutan include
butter tea (suja) and ara, which is a spirit distilled from rice,
wheat, or corn.
Unusual ingredients such as nettles, ferns, orchids mushrooms etc
appear in traditional Bhutanese vegetarian dishes. One of the
great Bhutanese vices is chewing doma, also known by its Indian
Name, Paan. |