Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [72]
The Department of Forestry Services (DFS) operates effective antipoaching programs designed to protect endangered plants and animals, enforce forestry rules and control trade in wildlife parts and products. A national network of foresters regulates timber harvesting, and road checkpoints are operated throughout the country to monitor the transportation of forest products.
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Food & Drink
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STAPLES & SPECIALITIES
DRINKS
VEGETARIAN & VEGANS
HABITS & CUSTOMS
EAT YOUR WORDS
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If you haven’t eaten Bhutanese cuisine before then you are in for a surprise. The Bhutanese love chillies; there are dishes where chillies are the main ingredient and these mouth-scorching meals may well be accompanied by chilli-infused condiments. It will bring tears of joy to the eyes of chilli lovers – all others beware! Of course, most travellers will not necessarily experience local food at its fiery zenith. All-inclusive travel means hotel-restaurant food (Click here), where toned-down Bhutanese is offered along with continental, Indian and Chinese dishes. Although chillies are ubiquitous, don’t expect the aromatically spiced dishes so typical of the subcontinent. These can only be found in the Nepali-influenced south of Bhutan or in an Indian restaurant.
All large towns have restaurants, and in Thimphu you can find Indian, Thai, Italian and other cuisines, as well as a plethora of local cafés. In remote villages the fare is likely to be the national dish, ema datse (chillies and cheese), and meat of questionable vintage. If you are ordering from a menu, don’t be surprised if many of the offerings are not available.
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If you bite into a bunch of hot chillies, a few mouthfuls of plain rice will often help ease the pain. Also a spoonful of sugar seems to absorb some of the fiery oil.
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STAPLES & SPECIALITIES
Traditional Bhutanese food always features devilish red or green chillies. Ema datse comprises large green (sometimes red, but always very hot) chillies, prepared as a vegetable, not as a seasoning, in a cheese sauce. The second-most popular dish is phak sha laphu (stewed pork with radish). Other typical dishes, always served with chillies, are no sha huentseu (stewed beef with spinach), phak sha phin tshoem (pork with rice noodles) and bja sha maroo (chicken in garlic and butter sauce).
One dish that is frequently available is dal bhat (rice and lentils), the traditional mainstay of Nepal. Hotel and trekking cooks make some excellent nonspicy dishes, such as kewa datse (potatoes with cheese sauce) and shamu datse (mushrooms with cheese sauce). Tohsey is a delicious salty, spicy mixture of vegetables and rice made gluggy with cheese. More seasonal are the delicious asparagus and unusual nakey (fern fronds), the latter typically smothered in the ever-present datse.
Pork fat is a popular dish in the wilds because of its high energy content. Western visitors find it almost inedible because it is usually quite stale or is just fat with lumps of hairy skin attached – no meat whatsoever!
Meat is frequently dry and stringy. There are no slaughterhouses, and only a few cold-storage facilities. Beef and fish come from India, often travelling long distances in unrefrigerated trucks. Avoid beef during the monsoon season, and be very wary of pork at any time. During the summer you are usually limited to chicken, or a vegetarian diet. Yak meat is sometimes available, but only in the winter. You will rarely find mutton or lamb served in Bhutan.
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members.tripod.com/thinley/recipe/is a concise website with several traditional recipes and some background to Bhutanese cuisine.
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Several Tibetan-style dishes are common in Bhutan. Small steamed dumplings called momos may be filled with meat or cheese – delicious when dipped in a chilli sauce.