Spitivalley travel guide

Thukpa

Tibetan noodle soup found throughout the Himalayas—hand-rolled wheat noodles in a clear or tomato broth with vegetables and sometimes meat; Sikkim and Darjeeling's versions use yak or pork; warming at altitude and available at 3am from street vendors during the cold months

Momos

The Himalayan dumpling beloved across North India—half-moon shaped steamed or fried wheat dough filled with pork, chicken, vegetable or cheese; the Tibetan-Nepali original is best at source in Gangtok, Darjeeling and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway towns

Butter tea

Ladakh and Tibet's essential beverage—tea leaves boiled in water, filtered, then combined with yak butter and salt in a cylindrical churn; the result is a savory, creamy, high-calorie liquid that protects against cold and altitude; outsiders find it confronting, locals drink 40 cups daily

Tsampa

Tibetan and Ladakhi staple—roasted barley flour mixed with butter tea or milk into a stiff paste eaten as porridge or rolled into balls; the primary food of Ladakh's nomadic herding communities for millennia; the roasted barley smell is the sensory summary of the Changthang plateau

Simple dal rice

India's most fundamental and universal meal—toor or moong dal cooked with turmeric and a tadka of cumin and dried chili in ghee, served over plain white or parboiled rice; eaten 365 days a year by hundreds of millions of people; the comfort of every Indian regardless of background