Bhutanese cuisine is shaped by mountains and seasons: warming, generous and made from what grows in the valleys.
Staples
- Red rice from the Paro valley — nutty and slightly sticky
- Buckwheat from Bumthang and Haa, made into pancakes (khuli) and noodles (puta)
- Datshi and other farmhouse cheeses, including dried chugo chewed for hours
- Chillies in almost everything
- Seasonal vegetables, wild mushrooms and fern tips
Regional dishes
- Hoentay — buckwheat dumplings stuffed with turnip greens and cheese, from Haa
- Jasha maroo — spicy minced chicken stew
- Phaksha paa — pork with radish and dried chillies
- Zow — sweet fried rice snack, often served with butter tea
Drinks
Suja, salty butter tea, warms you on cold mornings; ara is a local spirit distilled from rice, maize or millet; and Bhutan's craft beers include a well-known wheat beer brewed in Bumthang.
Taste Bhutan with us
Cook with a farming family, picnic by a river, or ask us to arrange a tasting of regional specialities on your journey.
Header photo: Aashutosh.Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0
