Finding food of your taste in Kathmandu will not be a problem. If you stay in Thamel then you will probably feel that you are in some busy downtown streets of your city in your country. Nepali food however is completely different and in all the places in Nepal except for Thamel, Kathmandu, Lakeside in Pokhara, Chitwan National Park you will probably have to eat Nepali food. Which is called Daal Bhaat in Nepali. Daal Bhaat is boiled rice, lentil soup and some vegetable curry dish. In fact Daal Bhaat is eaten by most Nepalese twice a day and are available in any restaurants around the country. Many travellers find it tasty and healthy food however there are large number of them who may not like the way rice is eaten. Foods like chips, sandwich, burger, cakes are not available in rural Nepal due to lack of proper refrigeration systems and ideas of cooking styles. However travellers may find light foods like noodles, biscuits, chawmins etc more amenable than

Daal Bhaat.

An issue concerning your health is the purity of drinking water. It is not recommended to drink water straight from tap anywhere in Nepal. Please make sure you have the water boiled properly or purify it with tablets that can either bought in Nepal or be brought by yourself. Bottled mineral water is completely safe for drinking and please make sure seal has not been broken before purchasing.

Please avoid eating food with large meat contents for first few days of your visit and stick with plain and light foods like sandwiches, fruits, salads, bakeries etc.

On first appearances Nepalese food looks distinctly dull, however this tends to be a very western perspective as we are used to a huge range of food stuffs.

In fact, Nepalese food is extremely delicious, each family with their own variation of a dish which is given the same name everywhere, Dhal Bhat Tarkari. Dhal translates as lentil soup, Bhat as rice, and Tarkari as curry.

Most people in the Himalaya are used to eating dhal bhat tarkari twice a day, everyday. This may seem a little boring after a while, but the range of curries available and the economics of buying and growing food in one of the poorest countries in the world has meant little change. Because many Himalayan people were once nomads, crossing the Himalaya for trade, there are lots of foreign influences as Indian and Tibetan style dishes (and peoples) have been imported.

One dish that is usually immensely popular amongst tourists is momo. This is a dumpling usually filled with buffalo or yak meat and steamed, and traditionally eaten with a sauce made from ginger, chillies and tomatoes. There is a difference between the long Tibetan momo and the round Newari momo, also the Newari variety comes with a delicious spicy soup!

50% of Nepalese children are officially malnourished, this is a direct result of poverty. Most Nepalese will rarely eat meat, perhaps only once a year during a festival. Milk is just as scarce and this lack of a balanced diet is responsible for many deaths, especially for newborns and pregnant women, both of whom need greater intake of milk and meat as well as other foodstuffs.

Kathmandu
Kathmandu is known throughout the backpackers world, not as the centre of Nepal food, but as a great hub for international cuisine, ranging from "Deep South" American restaurants to Japanese sushi bars. Of course, all of them are run by locals, all just dabbling in different varieties of food. However once outside the tourist areas and in Nepalese culture areas, there really aren't restaurants as we see them. Most Nepalese think restaurants are really just roadside shacks selling a range of boiled eggs, chillied cucumbers and all number of exotic fruits, generally only being used as travelling stops, as most Nepalese food is always done within the home, with women competing to make the greatest food you'll ever have!

Nepal Food and Drink Customs
There are a number of different customs in the Himalaya regarding food, many of which have direct links to the religions practiced. For example, Buddhists believe that the foot is dirty and disrespectful, because Nepalese people eat on the floor, if your foot accidentally went above some food, that food would be considered jutho or 'contaminated'. Equally, if you were to touch a serving dish with a dirty hand or utensil, that food would then be jutho.

The regular Nepali meal is Dal (lentil soup), Bhat (boiled rice) and Tarkari (curried vegetables), often accompanied by Achar (pickle), milk, curd, ghee or /and whey.
Curried meat is very popular, however for many people it is only cooked on special occasions because of the expense. Momos are also popular, originally a Tibetan dish, momo (steamed or fried dumplings) are a popular snack among many Nepalis especially in the urban areas. Rotis (flat bread) and Dhindo (boiled flour) are also used as supplement in some homes.

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