Defining our Food Culture

Defining our Food Culture

The food of Nepal is culturally diverse as it is geographically and ethnically diverse. But many of us are not aware of its richness and are likely to know more about global cuisine than our own. Although food is a symbol of culture and has an intrinsic connection, little attention is paid to understanding, exploring and promoting Nepalese food culture, which defines who we are.

Nepal has over a hundred ethnic communities, each of them a food culture in which they live is deeply rooted in the environment. Although rice now seems to be a staple in all regions and breeds of Nepal, this was not always the case especially in the mountains. Even in hilly areas, only the elite who owned flat irrigated land along the rivers had the luxury of eating rice as a staple food.

For others, a variety of locally grown cereals are well adapted to the environment and less fertile mountainous areas, using staple grains — kodo (finger millet), kaguno (foxtail millet), chino (proso millet) ), Is done for Makai (Maize). jau (barley), uwa (naked barley), phapar (buckwheat).

Such traditional and nutritious cereals are now largely ignored. Rice is considered as a rich man's food and is preferred over other cereals. In recent decades, rice has been shed by the government in rural areas and donors have campaigned against hunger. But little attention has been paid to encouraging local varieties of grains that are more nutritious, nutritious and sustainable.

Like other cultures around the world, food is at the heart of any festivals and celebrations in Nepali culture. This is more evident in the new community than any other. The grand Bhole Bhole, Bhole, held during festivals, festivals and special occasions, is an integral part of Bhoya, Nua culture. The rich food culture can be attributed to its fertile valley, vibrant cross-border trade and historically well-off economy. Yomari making - a stewed rice flour dough cake and a buffalo-buffalo trap filled with bone marrow - are examples of the simplicity of Nueva's cuisine. Strange taste and one of my favorite ingredients is aromatic-nut roasted mustard oil (buchika). The world is yet to discover its taste.

While hill communities save greens for the dry season, Tharu members and other communities in the southern plains conserve greens for the monsoon. To make taro, taro leaves are mixed with small dry fish and greens are mixed with lentil paste to make biriya. Their food culture is characterized by large scale floodplains, which live like knives, a much-loved mud-water snail, fish, prawns, crabs, and muscles of Sherpa, Tamang and other cold-dwelling communities Simplicity can occur in the Himalayan region. The basic flavors are but highly nutritious to give continuous energy to keep the environment alive. In the Sherpa community, sun-dried, ripe green corn kernels are made into hearty winter soups called legumes. Tsampa is one of the staples of roasted barley flour or barely bare, mountain communities. The Thakali community, a resident of Thakkola of Mustang, is a transitional food adopted from both low hill and upper hill culture. The gentians living in the eastern mountainous regions have wild lichen known as yangbein, which is usually cooked with pork to make yangbein fusca. They also use the ashes of the burnt inner feathers of the chicken as a flavoring to make vashipa.

Cross-border trade and migration have also helped influence Nepalese cuisine. New merchants who have developed trade and cultural ties with Tibet have brought momo (meat dumplings) to Kathmandu, but adapted to their own ingredients and tastes. Now very much loved. He also adopted the practice of drinking Tibetan butter tea. The influx of the people of Tibet, especially during the conflict in the 1960s, brings their food culture with them to the Nepalese palate. We, in the southern plains of Nepal, share food culture and heritage with North India. Some Nepalese living in Burma for generations returned to Nepal with Burmese cuisine. The Muslims who have lived here for generations have their own food culture, and they have also given to the local culture, which makes Nepalese cuisine rich and diverse.

In adopting commercial global cuisine, we are also forgetting our ethnic food culture and heritage. Nepal's rich and diverse food culture is needed only to preserve and promote tourism, but most importantly, to preserve our own heritage, history, culture and identity, and experience our next generation to do. Food connects us to the level that no one else does anything else and understanding other food culture will help us to appreciate and respect each other's culture more.