Cookbook talk:Cuisine of Nepal

well, first we would need to discuss the variety of cultures in nepal and their particular specialties. do buddhists have different tastes than hindus?--69.171.35.198 23:57, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

Local differences need amplification.
The main article seems to be written from a tourist perspective that is ignorant of the various cultural practices.

Although Kathmandu is in the "Middle Hills" between the high Himalaya and north of a conspicuous range of southern foothills called the Mahabharat Range, its indigenous cuisine is atypical of that region for several reasons. The Royal Family and the Ranas who once governed Nepal have northern Indian affinities, so meat-rich dishes with Moghul influences are much more common around Kathmandu than elsewhere in the Middle Hills. Secondly, the Kathmandu Valley is home to the Newar nationality, whose blend of Buddhist and Hindu practices are somewhat ideosyncratic. Newars freely eat meat from water buffalo, however strict Hindus find this objectionable because buffalo are cousins to cattle, whose meat is taboo.

In other parts of the Middle Hills, upper caste Hindus eat meat only occasionally. Meals are usually "dal-bhat-tarkari" - spicy lentil soup poured over boiled rice and accompanied with curried vegetables. Since wheat is grown as a cool season crop, chapatis may partly replace boiled rice. Vegetables are abundant during the summer monsoon, then become scarce during the cool winter and hot, dry spring months.

Lower caste groups are freer to eat pork and chicken. Beef is strictly limited to untouchables who are allowed to scavenge the corpses of animals that have died of natural causes. Indigenous ethnic groups living at higher elevations than rice-growing Hindus grow subtropical and temperate fruits and vegetables. These groups may seasonally move substantial herds of sheep, goats and cattle between lowlands in the winter and subalpine pastures in summer. Their diets are richer in vegetables and animal protein and may include pork unless Hindus live nearby. Fields above 1,500 meters are often better suited to growing maize, millet or barley than rice, although rice is usually preferred for its greater palatability.

Outside cosmopolitan Kathmandu where so many dietary traditions overlap, Tibetan food with its emphasis on potatoes, cold-tolerant grains such as barley and millet, and yak or buffalo meat is mainly confined to the northern, higher regions.

South of the Mahabharat Range where the Middle Hills give way to lowlands a fully tropical climate supports a greater variety of fruits and vegatables. Cultural practices and cuisine have more in common with northern India. Among Hindus there is a greater range of castes, particularly castes below the highest "bahun" (brahman) and "chhetri" (Kshatriya) levels that are numerically predominant in the "Hills". 76.80.9.100 11:28, 22 April 2007 (UTC)