Vegetarian and vegan food in Bhutan

Vegetarians eat well in Bhutan, and without having to ask for anything special. The centre of a Bhutanese meal is rice with vegetables and cheese; meat is one dish among several, and is often absent. Vegans have to do a little more work, because butter and cheese are everywhere. This is what to expect, and how we help.

Why it is easy

Bhutan is a Buddhist country in which taking life is avoided. Many Bhutanese eat no meat for parts of the year, and in two months of the Bhutanese calendar meat is not sold at all. Kitchens are used to cooking without it. India is also the largest source of visitors, so hotel cooks are well practised in vegetarian meals. The background is in our piece on Bhutanese food culture.

Vegetarian dishes to order

• Ema datshi: the national dish, chillies in cheese sauce.
• Kewa datshi: potatoes in cheese sauce. Mild.
• Shamu datshi: mushrooms in cheese sauce.
• Nakey datshi: fern shoots in cheese sauce, in spring.
• Jaju: a light soup of green leaves and milk.
• Dal: lentils, served with almost every hotel meal.
• Mixed vegetables: whatever is in season, stir-fried or lightly curried.
• Cheese momos: steamed dumplings filled with cheese and cabbage.
• Hoentay: buckwheat dumplings from Haa with turnip greens and cheese.
• Puta and khuli: the buckwheat noodles and pancakes of Bumthang.
• Goen hogay: cucumber salad with chilli, coriander and a little cheese.
• Ezay: the chilli relish served with everything.
• Red rice: with all of the above.

Eggs are widely eaten, and an omelette or boiled eggs can be had at any breakfast. If you do not eat eggs, say so.

What to watch for

• Datshi dishes with meat. Shakam datshi contains dried beef. If the name of a dish begins with sha, shakam, phaksha, sikam or jasha, it has meat in it.
• Momos. They come filled with cheese, vegetables, beef or pork, and look the same from outside. Ask.
• Soup. Most are vegetable, but ask whether the stock is.
• Shared spoons at a buffet. If it matters to you, tell your guide, and the kitchen will plate your food separately.

Vegan food in Bhutan

It can be done, and guests do it, but you need to be clear and to repeat yourself, because in Bhutan “vegetarian” naturally includes cheese, butter and milk.

• Not for you: anything called datshi, butter tea (suja), milk tea (ngaja), jaju, and most momos.
• Good choices: rice, dal, vegetables cooked in oil, potato and cauliflower dishes in the Indian style, chilli relish made without cheese, buckwheat noodles, fruit.
• Ask for: vegetables cooked with oil and not butter, and black tea or herbal tea.
• Bring: a few snacks you trust, for long drives and for days when the choice is narrow. Plant milks are not something to count on finding outside Thimphu.

Tell us when you book, not when you arrive. We write to every hotel on your route in advance, and your guide speaks to each kitchen on the day.

Other diets

• No onion or garlic: possible with notice. Tell us at booking.
• Gluten-free: easier than in most countries, since the staple is rice and the mountain staple is buckwheat. Momos and bread are wheat. Tell us, so that kitchens take care with sauces.
• Allergies: give us the details in writing and we pass them to each hotel. Carry your own medication, and remember that outside the main towns a hospital may be hours away.

On a trek

Trek food is cooked for you by the crew’s own cook, from supplies carried by pack animals, so what you eat is decided before you set out. A vegetarian trek is no trouble at all. A vegan one needs planning, which we do with the cook beforehand. See the treks compared for the choice of routes.

How spicy is it?

Bhutanese home cooking is very hot. Food cooked for visitors is not, unless you ask for it to be. The cheese and potato dishes are mild, and the chilli relish comes in a separate bowl, so you decide.