The everyday Nepali meal is dal bhat tarkari: rice, lentil soup and a vegetable curry, with pickle and greens, and refills until you stop them. Most Nepalis eat it twice a day. Momo dumplings are the favourite snack, sel roti is the festival ring bread, and sweet spiced chiya is drunk everywhere. Beyond that, each community cooks its own food. Newars in the Kathmandu Valley have the biggest repertoire, built around buffalo meat, beaten rice and juju dhau yoghurt. Thakali kitchens along the Kali Gandaki serve the most famous dal bhat sets, Gurung and Magar villages eat dhindo and smoked sukuti, the Rai and Limbu of the east ferment kinema and gundruk, and the Tharu of the Terai cook rice cakes, snails and crab. The traditional drinks are home-made: raksi spirit, chhyang rice beer, Limbu tongba and Newar aila. Drink only treated or bottled water, and skip alcohol above about 3,000 m until you have acclimatised.
- National mealDal bhat tarkari, eaten twice a day
- Favourite snackMomo, steamed or in jhol soup
- Biggest repertoireNewar cuisine of the Kathmandu Valley
- Famous dal bhatThakali sets of the Kali Gandaki
- Traditional drinksRaksi, chhyang (thwon), tongba, aila
- Food cultures142 caste and ethnic groups (2021 census)
- Eat withYour right hand
Nepali food stretches far beyond the dal-bhat-tarkari that every trekker meets on day one. The 2021 census recorded 142 caste and ethnic groups in Nepal, and most keep a distinct food culture: the Newar communities of the Kathmandu Valley alone are said to cook more than 200 dishes, the Thakali of the Kali Gandaki valley run the country's best-loved kitchens, and the Tharu of the Terai steam, smoke, and ferment dishes you will rarely meet outside the plains. This guide starts with the staples every visitor meets, then walks through the signature dishes of each major food culture, and finishes with the traditional drinks, from millet tongba to Newari aila. To eat most of it properly, set the fork aside and use your right hand.
The National Staples
Dal bhat tarkari is the foundational Nepali meal: steamed rice (bhat) with lentil soup (dal) and seasonal vegetable curry (tarkari), served with greens, pickles, and free refills until you surrender. Most Nepalis eat it twice a day, and on a trek, it is the best-value and most reliable dish on any menu, which is what the trail saying "dal bhat power, 24 hour" celebrates.
Momo, the steamed dumpling filled with buffalo, chicken, or vegetables, came from Tibet with Newar traders and is now Nepal's favourite snack and the subject of genuine local rivalry over fillings and dipping achars. The soup-served jhol momo of the Kathmandu Valley is the connoisseur's order. Two more staples deserve a first-day tasting: juju dhau, the "king curd" of Bhaktapur, a rich buffalo-milk yoghurt set in clay pots, and sel roti, the ring-shaped rice doughnut fried at festivals across the country. Through it all runs chiya, sweet milk tea spiced with ginger and cardamom, drunk at every hour in every settlement in Nepal.
Newari Cuisine
Photo: Samay Baji
Newari cuisine is one of the most delicious foods with intense flavour, said to include over 200 dishes. It widely uses buffalo meat. There are dishes for almost every edible part of the buffalo, cooked and raw, including intestine, stomach, and brain. It is the other reason Newari food is famous.
Popular dishes include Kwati (soup made from various beans), Vegetable Curry or Fried Green Vegetables, Kachila (spiced minced meat), Chhoyla (water buffalo meat grilled over dried wheat stalks), Pukala (fried meat), wo (lentil cake), Paun Kwa (sour soup), Swan Puka (stuffed lungs), Syen (fried liver), Mye (boiled and fried tongue), Sapu Mhicha (leaf tripe stuffed with bone marrow). Everything is served on baji, beaten rice, and the full feast set is samay baji. The most popular homemade alcoholic drinks are Thwon (rice beer) and Ayla (a distilled rice spirit).
Photo: Newari Khaja Set
For vegetarians, meat and dried fish can be replaced by fried tofu or cottage cheese. Dessert is Dhau (yoghurt, best of all the juju dhau of Bhaktapur), Sisabusa (fruits) and Mari (sweets). There are pickles made with Aamli fruit and other items.
Thakali Cuisine
Photo: Thakali set
The Thakali come from Thak Khola, the upper Kali Gandaki around Marpha and Tukuche, and their lodges along the old salt-trade route made their dal bhat famous. Thakali food is basically Dal-Bhat-Tarkari: Lentils, Rice and Vegetables, with Meat (Chicken or Mutton), Spicy Fried Potatoes and Spinach for non-vegetarians. As for vegetarians, Meat is replaced with Carrots, Cauliflower, Peas, and Green Beans which are cooked using the same spices as in the preparation of Meat. Most modern Thakali restaurants, however, also offer Momos (meat dumplings) and Thukpa (noodle soup).
Sometimes Buckwheat Breads (like chapatis or pancakes) may be served with the basic Curry and Kachhyamba (buckwheat finger chips) as an appetizer. Desserts include Sweet Curd or Phopke (fermented rice). Some places fry tiny pieces of Churpi (hard yak cheese, the stringy variety), and serve the Phopke over it with a little ghee to make it extra special. Fresh tomato relish and white radish pickle are placed to the side.
Magar Cuisine
Photo: Batuk
Fried Tarul (Yam) with Spices and Batuk, commonly known as Bara are the popular ethnic delicacies of Magar communities. Batuk is made from black lentils and is best served alongside pork and Kodo-Ko-Raksi (local alcohol made from millet). Batuk rotis are shaped like Western doughnuts, but the taste is easily distinguishable. The crunchiness on the outside complements the soft texture inside.
Gurung Cuisine
Dhido or Ato:
Photo: Dhindo
Dhindo is a thick, stiff porridge of maize, buckwheat, barley, or millet flour stirred into boiling water, eaten with the fingers like rice. The vegetables served with it can be spinach and fresh greens, fermented and dried greens, white radish, potatoes, green beans, cauliflower, cabbage, pumpkin, etc. Yogurt and curried chicken or fish are served as side dishes with few varieties of a pickle. However, in some places, the meat of wild boar (pork) may also be served.
Sukuti (Smoke-dried meat):
Photo: Sukuti
Sukuti is dried meat, most often buffalo, though goat and yak sukuti are common in the hills. Sukuti can be served both as an appetizer/snack laden with spices and tomato sauce, it can also be cooked alongside vegetables like potato, zucchini, or pumpkin to make gravy that is highly preferred with dhindo. The tanginess from the tomatoes and the mixed-in spices gives a real kick to this dish.
Niuro with Machha (Fiddlehead fern with anchovies):
Another side dish in Gurung cuisine is sauteed fiddlehead fern with fermented or dried anchovies with a lot of tomatoes and garlic. This is a very simple, yet delightful, side dish that complements the Gurung thali (plate) very well.
Selroti:
Photo: Selroti
It is a Nepali homemade ring-shaped, rice doughnut that is a very important snack in many ethnic groups. Sugar or Honey is used for the sweetness and pure ghee, made from buffalo milk, is mostly preferred to fry them. It is fried until the batter turns a reddish-brown in color and the outer layer becomes crispy. Selroti is often paired with different types of pickles.
Pickles:
Karkalo Ko Aachar and Karela (bitter gourd) Ko Aachar are two types of pickles eaten by the people. Karkalo is the Nepali name for the taro plant. All three parts of the plant are highly used in Nepali cuisine. In this case, the leafy part is used to make aachar (pickle). It is a very different and unique taste to one’s taste buds.
Mohi Chop:
Mohi is the Nepali word for buttermilk, the sour liquid left after churning butter. Mohi chop is one of the best-loved dishes in Gurung cuisine. The mohi is seasoned with a finely ground mixture of chilli, garlic, and salt. The preferred mohi for this meal is a little bit sour.
Kodo ko Raksi:
Raksi is a Nepali traditional alcoholic beverage that is either made from millet or rice. Kodo means millet in Nepali. It is a very strong drink that is clear in appearance. It goes really well with sukuti.
Rai & Limbu Cuisine
Kinema: fermented soybeans that are dried, stored, and used to make curry, soup, and pickles.
Yangben-Faaksa (Pork Curry with Yangben and Pig’s blood):
Yangben-Faaksa
Meat from local domestic pigs (sungur) is one of the most loved and widely consumed foods. Simple ingredients like blood, yangben (a wild edible lichen), onion, ginger, garlic, cumin seed, and coriander seed are used to prepare the pork.
Wachipa: A distinctive cuisine called wachipa is prepared by combining rice, minced local chicken flesh, charred downy feather follicles, and offal. It has a distinct, bitter flavor and scent similar to that of meat that has been cooked over fires.
Sargemba:
Photo: Sargemba
Essentially, sargemba is a blood sausage wrapped in pig intestines that is made with pig blood, yangben, rice, and spices. It is one of the uncommon foods cooked on the important holidays. Almost all of the pig's tissues and organs are used to create delicious dishes.
Chhop Achaar (pickle): It is a dry ground form of pickle made from oily seeds such as niger seed (Philinge), pumpkin seed and sesame seed along with salt, spices powder and sour agents such as lime juice.
Rice and Dhido: Steamed rice and Dhido (prepared by cooking millet or buckwheat flour in boiling water) is the main staple dish, which is generally eaten with vegetable curry, meat curry, Daal (Lentil soup) or other soup and Achaar (pickle).
Gundruk:
Photo: Gundruk
Gundruk, a staple in many ethnic cultures across Nepal, is made by fermenting the leaves of mustard, radish, or cauliflower and then sun-drying them. It is mixed with herbs, spices, and oil to make achaar, and it is also cooked into a sour soup in place of daal.
Tongba and Raksi:
Photo: Tongba
Tongba is an alcoholic beverage prepared by fermenting millet and served with pouring hot water over fermented grains in a special cylindrical vessel. Raksi is a hard distilled version generally made from fermented millet. These beverages are served as a gesture of respect, and also a must-have drink in occasions and festivals.
Terai Cuisine
A Typical Terai Set:
Photo: Typical Terai set
It includes basmati rice with ghee, Pigeon Pea Soup in the place of Lentil Soup, Tarkari (cooked variety of vegetables), Taruwa (battered raw vegetables such as potato, brinjal/aubergine, chilli, cauliflower, etc., deep fried in oil), Papadum, Mango/Lemon pickles, and Yogurt. For non-vegetarians, fish or goat curry is the usual choice.
Tharu Cuisine
Photo: Tharu Dish
Most of the Tharu dishes are rice-based. Rice and lentil are moulded into various shapes and steamed to make Dhikri or Bhagiya, and a special kind of sticky rice called Anadi is steamed and served. Furthermore, some other special Tharu food items on the menu include Pakuwa (barbecued meat), Ghonghi (boiled and spiced river snails) and an assortment of Tina (vegetables). Another short compendium of Tharu recipes includes Roasted Crab, Wheat Flatbread, and Fried Taro Leaf Cakes.
Photo: Crab
The unleavened flatbread is a staple food item in Terai. It encompasses a variety of whole-grain flatbreads such as Wheat roti, Corn roti, all kinds of Parathas (flatbread with stuffing), Maduwa (finger millet flatbread) and Litti (baked wheat dough balls stuffed with sattu, roasted gram flour). Furthermore, special varieties of bread include Thekuwa (bread cum cookie made out of wheat flour and other ingredients) and Bhusuwa (flatbread made out of rice flour as the main ingredient).
India-influenced dishes include Malpuwa (sweet wheat fritter), Dahi Bara (lentil dumpling topped with savoury gravy of yoghurt, tamarind, and spices) and Mithais (sweets). Sidhara, a unique food item of Terai, is a mixture of taro root, dried fish and turmeric that is formed into cakes and dried. The cakes are broken up and cooked with radish, chilli, garlic, and other spices to accompany boiled rice.
Lohorung Rai Cuisine
Photo: Wachipa
The Lohorung are a Rai group indigenous to eastern Nepal. They have a variety of food in their cuisine made from local ingredients. One of the main dishes is Wachipa also called Wamik. It is a traditional Kirat dish cooked with minced chicken, rice and powder of burnt chicken feathers. This powder gives this dish a bitter, unique taste. Vegetarians replace chicken with flowers or leaves of a plant known as Damlapa.
It is also believed that eating this dish cures body aches. Other foods include Masikdaam, Kinima (a side dish eaten as a soup with rice or chapati), Sibring, Sel roti (round shape roti made from rice flour, sugar, and butter), Bawari (a roti of rice flour batter cooked in hot oil), Dhule Achar (a type of pickle made from sesame seed, ginger, salt, oil, chili together turning into fine powder), Saruwa, Chamre (rice cooked in ghee, water, and salt), Yangpen and Dibu. Drinks include local drinks made of rice or millet called Tongba.
Traditional Drinks of Nepal
Raksi is Nepal's traditional distilled spirit, a clear, strong liquor made from millet or rice and produced at home across the hills. It is poured at festivals, offered to deities, and served to guests as a mark of respect. Strength varies from batch to batch, so treat any glass as stronger than it looks. Chyang (called thwon by the Newars) is the gentler cousin, a cloudy home-brewed rice beer drunk young and slightly sweet.
Tongba, the signature drink of the eastern hills and the Limbu community, is fermented millet served in a wooden or metal vessel: hot water is poured over the grains and the warm, mildly alcoholic result is sipped through a bamboo straw, then topped up again, which makes it the perfect cold-evening drink in the Kanchenjunga foothills. The Newars distil aila, a potent spirit poured in a thin stream from height during feasts and rituals. In the high Himalaya, the drink of hospitality is butter tea (po cha in Tibetan, solja among Sherpas), churned with salt, an acquired taste that makes complete sense at 4,000 m. All of these are homemade and unstandardised, so drink slowly and accept refills with caution.
Nepal's Food Cultures at a Glance
| Community | Home region | Signature dishes | Traditional drink |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newar | Kathmandu Valley | Samay baji, choila, kwati, yomari, juju dhau | Thwon, aila |
| Thakali | Upper Kali Gandaki (Marpha, Tukuche) | Thakali dal bhat set, buckwheat bread, kachhyamba | Apple and millet raksi |
| Gurung | Annapurna and Manaslu foothills | Dhindo, sukuti, niuro, mohi chop | Kodo ko raksi |
| Magar | Western and central hills | Batuk, fried tarul (yam), pork | Kodo ko raksi |
| Rai and Limbu | Eastern hills | Kinema, yangben pork, sargemba, wachipa | Tongba |
| Terai (Maithil and others) | Southern plains | Rice with rahar dal, taruwa, litti, malpuwa | Lassi, chiya |
| Tharu | Terai, Chitwan to Bardiya | Dhikri, ghonghi, crab chutney, sidhara | Jand (rice beer) |
Eating and Drinking Safely in Nepal
Don't drink tap water anywhere in Nepal, Kathmandu included. Use bottled water in cities and refill a bottle with boiled, filtered, or tablet-treated water on treks. In the Khumbu, single-use plastic bottles have been banned since 2020, so bring a filter or purification tablets. Freshly cooked dal bhat is the safest meal on any menu. It is made in big batches and served hot. Salads and peeled-in-advance fruit are where most stomach trouble starts.
Home-made raksi, tongba and chhyang are part of the welcome in many villages, and it is fine to accept a small cup. Strength is unpredictable, though. On a trek, keep alcohol off the menu above about 3,000 m until you have acclimatised. It dehydrates you, disturbs sleep, and can hide the early signs of altitude sickness. Save the tongba for the walk out.
A few table manners help. Eat with your right hand and pass food with it too. Once food has touched your lips or your plate it is jutho, ritually polluted, so don't offer anyone a bite from your plate or drink straight from a shared bottle. Many Brahmin and Chhetri households don't eat buffalo or pork, and beef is off the table almost everywhere, since killing cows is illegal in Nepal.
Taste Nepal With Swotah
Swotah's 11-day Himalayan Food Exploration Tour, from USD 2,999 per person (group departure), is built around this food. It includes cooking classes in Kathmandu and Kirtipur, Newari and Gurung homestays in Kirtipur and Kolmakot, Thakali kitchens in Marpha in the Kali Gandaki, and Sherpa food in the Khumbu. Swotah can arrange it as a private trip if you want your own dates.
For a shorter taste, the 12-day Best of Nepal Tour, from USD 1,010 per person (group departure), covers Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Patan and Pokhara, which means plenty of momo, samay baji and juju dhau along the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the national dish of Nepal?
Dal bhat tarkari, rice with lentil soup and vegetable curry. It has no official status, but most Nepalis eat it twice a day and it is on every trekking lodge menu.
Where did momo come from?
Momo came from Tibet. Newar traders who worked the Kathmandu to Lhasa trade route brought it back, and it spread from the Kathmandu Valley across Nepal. Buffalo momo is the classic Kathmandu filling.
Is Nepali food spicy?
It can be. Achar pickles and Newari dishes like choila are hot, while dal and most curries are mild. Ask for "kam piro" (less spicy) if you want it toned down.
What are the traditional alcoholic drinks of Nepal?
Raksi, a clear spirit from millet or rice, chhyang (thwon to Newars), a cloudy rice beer, tongba, warm fermented millet sipped through a bamboo straw, and aila, the Newar rice spirit. All are home-made, so strength varies.
Is street food safe in Nepal?
Freshly cooked, hot food from a busy stall is usually fine. Avoid raw salads, cut fruit that has been sitting out, and anything washed in tap water, and carry hand sanitiser.
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Want to taste these dishes on the trail? Our Annapurna Circuit Trek passes through the heartland of the Thakali and Gurung communities, some of the most diverse food cultures in Nepal.
