Though we were planning a trip to the Social Welfare Council and having Bikram show us the holy Hindu temple of Pashupati, but endeavors fell through. Nevertheless, we still managed to pass by some notable landmarks such as the (outside of the) Royal Palace and the Queen’s Lake. We ducked into a small bookstore where Chris bought “Forget Kathmandu” and I picked up a long-overdue copy of “The End of Poverty.”
Since not much happened today, here’s a little update on Nepali food. Though most people are Hindu, meat is not difficult to find (called “masu”) and I’m at a guest house, which means they’re used to barbaric foreigners ordering chicken and pork and... buffalo? In addition, Nepal’s location between India and China means that it’s easy to get food of either region. Curry is a daily staple, and chow mein, fried rice, and chop suey are everywhere. I found Korean cup ramen at the local grocery store, but didn’t end up getting it. Apparently, you can even get Chinese food in Achham as well— according to Chris, there’s a vendor who just sits there and fries up tons of noodles every day. The domestic Nepali ramen (chow chow/ wai wai) market has boomed recently, and actually advertises it as a health food— the company Mayo enriches theirs with Vitamin A and has the slogan “One a Day.” Other than the fact that the whole thing is still just a brick of flour and sodium, I guess they’re not that far off…
My favorite Nepali dish (which is actually Tibetian) is a soup noodle dish called “thukpa.” It features thick noodles in broth and vegetables, and though a little heavy sometimes, is really good. In addition, a popular dish called momo is quite familiar to me since it looks and tastes very much like East Asian dumplings (Chinese dim sum/ Korean mandu/ Japanese gyoza).
Despite the wide array of foods, the traditional meal that all Nepalis eat is called “dhaalbhat.” Dhaal is a soup of varying thickness made with lentils and grains, and bhat is long grain white rice. Add a side of vegetable curry and chutney, and there you have it. Bon apetit.
4 comments:
Although Sachs describes the state of global poverty pretty convincingly, I think his solutions are over-reliant on government intervention. From my experience with poverty alleviation here in the Philippines, I think the solution lies in the private sector, but with government as an equal partner. BTW nice blog!
I strongly agree with you on that-- have you read Bill Gates' argument for "creative capitalism"? It's a similar concept. Also, working for a foreign NGO powered by capitalism (much of our revenue comes from grants, personal contributions, and an journal editing service we run) has convinced me that that's the only way to get things done. The Ministry of Health, which we've been partnering with, has been... difficult, to say the least.
And while I'm at it, add more videos to your blog! They're awesome!
They won't eat cows, but they'll eat cows' big hairy relatives, the buffalo? Racist!
I know, huh? I still have some serious difficulty wrapping it around my head that such similar animals are in such different... castes...
Personally, I can't tell the difference sometimes. You've got dark cows and pale 'falloes, so who can tell?
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