I’m Rujan, a licensed trekking guide living in Kathmandu. Walkers often ask whether they can eat well on a trek with a special diet. The good news: Nepal’s everyday food suits many diets. It takes a few words and a little care.
Vegetarian: easy
Dal bhat, rice with lentil soup, vegetable curry, greens and pickle, is vegetarian in most lodges, and you get second helpings. Many walkers stay vegetarian on the trail anyway: higher up, meat has been carried for days without a fridge. Say ma maasu khaandina: I do not eat meat.
Vegan: a few words
- Dal bhat is often cooked with ghee (clarified butter). Ask for it without: ghiu nahaalnus, please do not add ghee.
- Milk tea is the usual drink; ask for black tea, kaalo chiya, or ginger or lemon tea.
- Cheese, butter, eggs and yak cheese appear in many dishes higher up: tell the cook early, before the meal is made.
- Porridge can be made with water; Tibetan bread and chapati are usually egg-free, but ask.
Gluten-free: needs care
- Rice, lentils, potatoes, vegetables, eggs, and buckwheat or millet dishes in some villages are naturally free of wheat.
- Watch for: noodles, pasta, momo wrappers, chapati, Tibetan bread, pancakes, tsampa (roasted barley), soy sauce and packet soups.
- Kitchens are small and share pans and oil: if you have coeliac disease, cross-contact is a real risk. Bring a card in Nepali explaining it, and your own safe snacks.
What to bring from home
- Snacks you trust: nuts, bars, dried fruit, for the long days.
- For strict diets, a few safe meals or powders.
- Any medicine you need for your diet or allergies.
Tell your guide about your diet before the trek, so it can be explained to each lodge cook in Nepali. See also food on a tea-house trek, safe water and food and useful Nepali phrases.
Rules change. If something here is out of date, please tell me and I will correct it.Tell me
