Surprisingly, traditional Bhutanese dishes are not particularly similar to Tibetan or Indian cuisine, probably due to the historical isolation of the territory. One common ingredient is chilli, so the food tends to be quite spicy, although other spices commonly used in Indian or Nepalese cuisine are not usually employed. When cooking for Western visitors, the spiciness is often reduced or eliminated altogether.

The main course is usually accompanied by red rice, with buckwheat and corn also widely used. Soup is often on the menu.

The star ingredient is ‘datshi’, a fresh cheese made from cow’s or yak’s milk that serves as the basis for cooked dishes. Examples include emma datshi, chilli with cheese, perhaps the most traditional dish, kewa datshi, potatoes with cheese, shamu datshi, mushrooms with cheese, etc.

Dishes with the name ‘paa’ are stews, usually made with meat, which are typically cooked with chilli, cheese and butter, although there may be variations. In many cases, the meat is dried meat, which is the most common way of preserving and cooking meat in Bhutan.

Sikam paa is made with dried pork and is considered one of the national dishes, shakam paa is made with dried beef, and phaksha paa is made with fried pork.

Naturally, there are other dishes besides datshi and paa, such as zow shungo, rice with vegetables, jasha maru, chicken stew with broth, and bathub (ba-thuk), a flat noodle soup. Fully integrated into Bhutanese cuisine are also Nepalese dal-bhat and Tibetan mo-mos and thupka. Although Bhutan is not a very large country, there are culinary variations in each region, and the same dishes are cooked and taste slightly different.

Although it is not usually offered to visitors by default, Bhutanese people often drink ‘suja’, the traditional butter tea of the entire Tibetan region.

More Western-style cuisine can be found in hotels and large restaurants.