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Bhutanese food and Drinks
Determined by cold climate and the sturdy life
in the hilly terrain, over the centuries
Bhutanese people have developed an appetite for
good food, drinks, and beverages.
Rice is the staple food but Bhutanese are very
fond of meat, especially dried meat. Pork, beef,
chicken, and fish are served with chillies, a
ubiquitous and fiery part of every dish.
Emadatsi is the national delicacy prominent on
every menu. It is made entirely of chilies,
fresh or dried, treated as a vegetable and
served in a cheese sauce spiced with onions and
tomatoes. Phagshapa, made of strips of pork-fat
often dried and stewed with radishes or turnips
and dried chilies, is another popular dish.
Momos, and thugpas are served as snacks in
almost every restaurant. Momos are either cheese
or meat-filled, while thugpas are prepared mixed
with cheese slices, chillies, carrots, and
onions. Salted butter tea, or suja, is served on
all social occasions with Zow or roasted rice.
Though there is plenty of white rice Bhutanese
prefer a local red variety. In Bumthang, where
buckwheat is the staple diet, the regional
specialty is puta, or earthy buckwheat noodles,
while in Haa, it is hontay, rich buckwheat momos
(dumplings) filled with datshi (cheese) and
vegetables such as spinach or pork.
Favourite beverages include chang, the local
beer, and arra (home-brewed alcohol), a spirit
distilled from rice, maize, wheat, or barley.
Interested in some recipes? Get a copy of
“Bhutanese cuisine: the food of Shangri-La” by
Susanne Waug (also available online).
All tourist hotels have a choice of Bhutanese,
Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Continental
cuisine. Bhutanese delicacies are spicy with
lots of chillies and cheese. All sorts of drinks
are available in each tourist hotel. The Red
Panda beer is a typical Bhutan-made with a
Himalayan taste.
Climate
Bhutan lies in the Central Himalayas, between
China to the north the Indian states of Assam
and West Bengal to the south and east, and
Sikkim to the west with a total area of about
47,000 square kilometers.
Spring (March to May) has warm days and cool
nights. With June begins summer and the day
temperature shoots up to 27 - 29 °C. Come July,
the rain starts continuing till mid-September.
The autumn months of September to November are
ideal for trekking with clear skies and mild
weather. In December temperature falls, although
the days will still be warm. The nights,
however, are cold with temperature often falling
below zero.
Time difference
Bhutan standard time is 6 hours ahead of the GMT
and 30 Minutes ahead of IST (Indian Standard
Time).
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