Bhutan's Very Own WWE!

I warn you, this entry is going to be as NOT earth shattering as all my other entries, but I promise it is going to be probably more fun than the others!

It is America's WWE and India's kabaddi, kho kho, lagori, gilli danda rolled into one. It has showmanship and bravado and brawn and entertainment value a la WWE. But it is rustic and indigenous and low tech a la kabaddi, kho kho, lagori and gilli danda (which as my non Indian readers have guessed correctly, are all simple, rustic Indian games). There the comparisons end. Where WWE and kabaddi are contact sports, and kho-kho, lagori and gilli danda all involve some skill - be it running, dodging, catching, aiming and hitting from afar, this that am about to write about is a purely individual contest and a test of raw, brute, physical power! I am talking about the STRONGMAN CONTEST of course!

The Strongman Contest is the most eagerly awaited item in any community event or celebration in Bhutan. In fact it is probably the only  must-have item in the cultural program of any big public gathering. And it is not surprising why this is so!

 Whether it fills you with amusement, awe, derision, or disbelief, it is hard to resist the spectacle of grown men in medieval-looking helmets and bare feet, stepping forward from the line of contestants and walking about beating their puffed out chests with balled fists, lifting and stomping their feet on the ground pugnaciously, slapping their thighs menacingly, and boasting about how much they can eat in one go, as they try to impress and introduce themselves to the crowd! And this even if you, like me, don't understand a word of Dzongkha (the official language of Bhutan)!

Below is a line up of 'Strongmen' from six Dzongkhags (Districts) of Eastern Bhutan. They are about to compete in the Strongman Contest that was held towards the end of the Bhutanese National Day celebrations in Kanglung, Trashigang on December 17, 2014. Saving the best for last you might say! 

The line up!

There is laughter, impatience and anticipation among the audience as they wait for each contestant to finish this customary exercise in narcissism and self promotion (below) and get on with the main event!

The self introduction!

The stomping!

The bragging and posturing done, it is time to begin with the first part of the competition. Huge tree stumps with ropes tied around a notch that is carved into each one lie at the starting line, waiting to be dragged to the other side of the field!

On your marks, get set.......

......GO!

That does not look difficult and it is actually the easiest part of the event. The tasks get steadily harder, and the fastest one to drag the stump to the other end is NOT necessarily the winner, as we find out that day! Because it is not all about speed. Once the stumps are dragged to the opposite end, they have to be lifted onto the shoulder and carried back to the starting line..... 

Heave-ho......Lugging the tree stumps back to the other side

Back at the starting line, a row of axes wait to be picked up and used for hacking the tree stump into two pieces......aha ......this obviously requires not just physical strength but some technique as we are about to witness ......the contestant who is the first to carry his load back to the starting line seems to be having a lot of trouble hacking it, and in fact he's the last to accomplish this task and move on to the next...

Struggling to hack the stump into two with an axe!

Only when the stump is decimated can each contestant turn his attention to a humongously heavy sack (not sure what it is filled with) that he is meant to carry to the other end. Each hugely strong contestant is literally hobbled just from the effort of getting a hold of it and putting it on his back. Of course his exhaustion from chopping the stump does not help. Whether or not he gets from this end to the other without dropping the sack is really hard to say judging from the struggle he has dealing with it even in a stationary position!

Below, these two contestants have moved on to this daunting task - one manages to lift the enormously heavy and unwieldy sack onto his back, while the other continues to struggle to dislodge it from where it lies - will he ever get it onto his back and to the other end?!

He is off! And he is not doing too badly at all!

Oh but this one is labouring, bent almost double under the weight of that sack

Okay, well, eventually all of the contestants make it to the other side with their sacks (they are after all strongmen from their respective districts and they have a rep to protect!), but by this time there are huge gaps between them. And the contest is not over yet. The gaps are going to grow bigger and bigger by the time the contestants finish the last task of carrying to the other side of the field two tires suspended at the two ends of a pole! Take a look......

The early birds - leading the pack!

Almost there! This is one of the stragglers bringing up the rear, but hey he made it!

It's done!

 There is a resounding applause as the first one to complete all the tasks is declared the new Strongman of the East amidst a lot of cheering.

This is the first time I have witnessed this spectacle but it certainly isn't going to be the last I know. Sure enough, I have seen it several times since and it's been pretty watchable every time, not least due to the pomposity and the playacting prelude to the actual contest. But all of the fun and frivolity apart, this contest is probably not just about a bombastic show of power - there is some rustic weight lifting, some running, some heavy pulling, and oops I forgot the axe wielding, and in doing all of these successfully without causing injury or harm to oneself, undoubtedly some technique too! And what the hell, even if there isn't any technique involved, this simple, homegrown sport still has the power to generate huge enjoyment in an age of high tech sport and sporting paraphernalia.....and that's saying something! 

What's in a dance?

My first invitation to participate in this 'dance' had me a little flummoxed, but not on account of the complexity of steps and movements involved. Those proved to be a cakewalk once my mind came to terms with the fact that at the end of the event I was attending, I was expected to just get up from my seat in the VIP section of the audience and join in with hundreds of other members of this huge audience to do the 'Tashi Lebeh' in the middle of the ground where the event was being held!

The event is at an end, theTashi Lebeh begins with everyone standing one behind the other in a huge circle

The photographers in the middle of the ring formed by the Tashi Lebeh participants

I can only come to the conclusion that my initial reticence and slight astonishment at this mass, and what seemed to my newcomer's eyes to be an impromptu, unrehearsed and spontaneous dance, came from reasons which are deeply embedded in my psyche. Foremost among these reasons, if this was happening in India, would be the concern that immediately surfaces as a result of training and conditioning that is as old as I am  - "Will I be safe down there dancing with all and sundry from the audience?" And given the milieu we live in in India, this question would  probably be perfectly valid and justified from a woman's point of view.

The next questions that my mind would subconsciously process are "What sort of people will I be dancing with? Do they look like they are from my kind of people, my class, are they my type, how will I look to myself and to others to be dancing with them?" Are these questions justified?  Would these questions occur to you too, I ask my Indian readers? Think about it. These doubts probably would surface in your mind too. We Indians are all a product of the same society and our society has conditioned us to think in this way, albeit in varying degrees, depending on our exposure, our education, our individual differences, and depending on whether or not we reside in India.

Living in Bhutan for the past year or so I have had numerous opportunities to observe the complete lack of inhibition on the part of the Bhutanese, (right from the monarchs and the rest of the royal family, down to the ministers and the highest ranking politicians and officials in the various districts of Bhutan) in mingling and mixing with their fellow countrymen, irrespective of their place on the social ladder. At times like these I feel really starkly aware of how in my own country each social strata kind of looks down on the one below it, and would like to have as little to do with it as possible unless it is unavoidable and unless it is for one's own gain! The reverse seems to be one of the most striking features of Bhutanese society. 

And so when it is time to do the tashi lebeh, everyone including members of the royal family if they are present at the gathering, casually, without any fuss, without having to be coaxed and cajoled, walks onto the field and joins in this traditional ending of any happy, auspicious community event and even, I am told a big family event such as a puja for instance.

Men in uniform, bureaucrats, women, the old, the young, the Bhutanese and the non Bhutanese all join in!

Okay, so what exactly is the tashi lebeh? Does it have an explicit purpose? Does it help to break down barriers between the social strata in Bhutanese society or is it a reflection of the lack of rigid distinctions in this society? I am not exactly sure but it probably has its roots in tribal sensibilities, which as we know from our own tribal societies in India's northeastern states, are characterised by a strong sense of community.


To my mind, the very simplicity of the steps of the tashi lebeh seems to be designed with a view to inclusiveness, so that even a novice and a newcomer to the dance can join in and be a part of it- take a step forward starting with one foot, bring the other foot together with the first with your palms raised skywards, take another step forward this time with the second foot, bring your feet together with your palms facing down, step, feet together, palms up, step, feet together, palms down - as simple as that, aside from the fact that at a particular point in the song/prayer that accompanies the dance, everyone turns and faces in the opposite direction for just one set of steps and hand movements, and then turns back again! In actuality, all Bhutanese dances have very basic and simple steps, and this one is no exception. Unlike the Indian classical dance forms and some folk dances that require a lifetime of rigor and considerable skill to master, and are therefore not inclusive and accessible to everyone, the tashi lebeh is simple and easy and belongs to literally every Bhutanese.

  
From the very first time I participated in it, the inclusiveness of the lebeh lebeh struck me strongly as being a beautiful way to end a happy event, with everyone moving around in the same direction, in a huge circle, to the accompaniment of simple steps and hand movements, to the chanting of a song that is almost a prayer of gratitude that everything has gone off well, and of a wish that we will all meet here again one day. Needless to say I have grown to love the tashi lebeh, and everything it stands for! I hope that you will have an opportunity to participate in it when you visit the Land of the Thunder Dragon!

Scroll down to see the steps and hand movements of the Tashi Lebeh......

step forward with the left foot, bring your feet together, raise your palms skywards

step forward, bring your feet together, bring your hands down palms facing the ground

Palms up....

Palms down......

The plane that wouldn't land!

That to land a plane at Bhutan's Paro International Airport takes special skill and training, cool nerves and crazy expertise is a well known fact. What is not such common knowledge is that every once in a while the magnificent men in their flying machines who fly in and out of Paro on a regular basis also have to make several attempts to land before they actually do so!

Today happened to be one of those days! We were flying in from Delhi on a very early morning flight departing Delhi at 5 am IST. Though Bhutan is thirty minutes ahead of India, it was still early enough for there to be poor visibility and some lingering fog hovering over Paro airport as we neared it. For those who do not know this, instrument landings do not happen here - all landings at this airport are totally pilot controlled. I had dozed on the entire flight, but was awakened by the sensation that we were flying low. Bleary eyed and woolly mouthed I asked my husband sitting in the seat next to me if we were ready to land. What he told me made me sit bolt upright and become fully awake!

Apparently the pilot had descended, prepared to land and then realized he couldn't. He had circled away from the airport and tried another landing, only to abort it again. I thanked God that I had been asleep when all of these acrobatics had been happening. I was informed by my husband that the pilot was now preparing to fly to Gauhati in Assam or Bagdogra in West Bengal, refuel and then come back when the weather was clearer. Oh no, I was looking forward to going home to Thimphu, but it looked like home would have to wait for a few more hours.

And then the pilot announced that before he took us back to India he was going to make one last attempt to land. And so with me fully awake this time, the plane once again ascended a little, turned around in a wings-almost-skimming-the-mountains circle in the little valley, and then as the pilot found a little hole in the fog, came in to make a superb landing that made the runway seem like velvet! Bravo I wanted to say and clap my hands for this top gun aviator, but held back seeing the faces of the Bhutanese around me who probably had had this experience before and did not look like anything out of the ordinary had happened.

Now I hope you land on the first attempt when you arrive in the Land of the Thunder Dragon but don't be surprised or worried if you don't! I can assure you you will be in very safe hands!           

Bumthang - a tale of a winter's day

Entering Bumthang Dzongkhag from Mongar, you would go through Thrumshingla (la = pass), at an elevation of over 3500 mtrs. When you arrive at the pass don't let the icy cold keep you in the car, even in the high winter! The passes are all typically at the top of a mountain between two valleys and/or Dzongkhags (districts), and are cold and windy even in the summer. Thrumshingla like all passes in Bhutan is festooned with prayer flags. Unfortunately the once pristine snow at Thrumshingla has turned to slush today, thanks to the movement of cars through the pass, and sullied the sacredness and serenity of the prayer flags planted there in memory of sadly departed loved ones perhaps. My husband and I are returning to Thimphu in the west. Our vehicle is just one amongst hundreds making the journey west through Mongar and Bumthang after the Bhutanese national day celebrations in the eastern district of Trashigang, if that helps to make the ugly slush and the tyre marks easier to bear!                         

                                    Thrumshingla  

Carry on through the pass, and almost the first thing you encounter is a big board announcing the Situ Rhododendron Garden.  It must be breathtaking in the spring but right now in the middle of the winter we just drive past, making a mental note to return when the rhododendrons are in bloom.

                                                                                                  

The Situ Rhododendron Garden is part of the Thrumshingla National Park which falls within the boundaries of four Dzongkhags, including of course Mongar and Bumthang.  From here the road winding down towards Bumthang Valley is on the side of the mountain that does not receive the direct rays of the sun for a while. Here in the crevices in the mountainside is a fabulous show of icicles for anyone who is mindful enough to notice them.

Stop, have a roadside picnic at Kesamchhu, and enjoy the combination of the bright, warm, midday sun and  patches of virgin snow all around. The air here is clean beyond measure. Don't take my word for it - check out the lichens that not only grow in abundance but also grow very long - the longer and more abundant the lichen, the purer the air they say! 

Notwithstanding that lichens are known to be bio-indicators of air quality as they need very clean air to thrive, or that some of them look beautiful and colourful, I must admit that the the long wispy ones like in the pictures above don't look very pretty, at least not to me or anyone with an overactive imagination! They kind of remind me of cobwebs, which bring to mind ghostly places that have been untouched or undisturbed by time and the human hand. An undisturbed environment is incidentally another condition (in addition to very clean air) required for lichens to grow and flourish. 

As we continue on our way we see Ura Valley with its wide terraced fields in the distance. But instead of heading for Ura we take the Shingkhar Bypass around it. And then the road takes a turn that suddenly brings us face to face with the the highest peak in Bhutan - the mighty Gangkar Phuensom, standing there larger than life beyond so many mountains and valleys, yet seeming so close by due to its size, and bringing to the fore all my heart stopping awe of the mountains! How lucky we are to have a bright and beautifully clear day to view this giant with the unique, unmistakable shape!

Gangkar Phuensom

The Shingkhar Bypass I am told reduces the travel time from Ura to Bumthang Valley from two hours to 45 minutes! Bumthang Dzongkhag is comprised of Ura, Choekhor, Tang and Chumey Gewogs, which are sub units within the district. The most populated of these is Choekhor, also known as Bumthang Valley. We arrive in Bumthang Valley but drive past it and head straight for Druk Yathra, a wonderful little home based weaving factory in Chumey. Small though it is, it nevertheless produces some very fine articles with the typical Bumthang motifs and patterns. There are bags, jackets, runners, mats to sit on, kiras and more. The young factory owner Jigme takes care of the marketing and supplies, and his mother and wife take care of the running of the little factory in the courtyard. In addition to the regular weavers who are drawn from several households in Chumey Valley and who have been organised into a kind of cooperative, students are also employed to lend a hand with the weaving in the tourist season when the demand is high, which is understandable considering the factory is located smack bang on the main road to Trongsa and onward to Thimphu. Karma's wife treats us to hot tea and some special Bumthang preparations in a little coffee shop he runs right next to his factory. 

 Lightly sweetened little dumplings made of flour and sweet sticky rice with raisins 

The light begins to fade and the sunny day gives way to an icy cold evening. Bumthang Dzongkhag tends to be much colder than Thimphu in the winter, but that's hardly surprising given that it is slightly north of the capital. On the drive back through Chumey towards our hotel in Bumthang Valley, our escort informs us that the houses here are built of local stone, earth, timber and sometimes cement. Bricks are banned by law. Bumthang is often called the Switzerland of the East, but this is certainly not reflected in the construction of the dwellings which are clearly Bhutanese in their design and building materials. By the time we reach the Yu-Gharling Resort, built to resemble a Swiss style chalet on the inside, and one of the upmarket hotels in Bumthang Valley, the reception party of hotel employees has almost frozen into icy statues in the driveway of the hotel! We rush inside to find a beautifully warm wood panelled lobby and a warm chalet type suite. What the online reviews of the hotel say about it being the only hotel with radiators in the bathrooms is one hundred percent true:) That we are served one of our worst, most ugly looking and unappetising dinners ever that night is five hundred percent true.....hahaha! Also believe it or not there is no television in the suite, but it is brought in as soon as we ask for it. A nice touch and something a lot of tourists who just want to get away from it all prefer, I am sure!

This is terribly off season, but the district offers its own winter attractions. Nearby Gyetsa is where some black necked cranes from Tibet have migrated to this year, though the migration hub really is in Phobjikha Valley. We set off early the next morning in search of the birds. Gyetsa disappoints us, so we drive to the lovely little Chumey Nature Resort whose frontyard according to the friendly and well spoken owner, is literally a playground, feeding ground and perhaps a breeding ground for the elusive birds. It is one of two or three places (including Gyetsa) they have been spotted in in Bumthang this year. 

Chumey Nature Resort

Well, the birds elude us yet again, but we sit outside the resort and our trusty, thoughtful and highly organized escort pulls out flasks of hot tea and something to munch. We drink our hot tea and eat our biscuits while admiring the view and lamenting that we are too late for the birds' 7.30 am appearance and too early for their midmorning showing:( 

Will we stay and wait for the birds to show up? Wish we could but no way, we have a flight to catch from Bumthang to Paro to get us home to Thimphu! The owner happily chats with us, totally unresentful that we have perched on her benches and made ourselves very comfortable without ordering so much as a pot of tea from her......even off season, this is not something many hotel owners elsewhere in the world would do! She even rushes in and brings us little bench mattresses so we won't feel cold on our bottoms! Makes me want to come back and stay at this resort! So I go and check out the rooms - the ones above the front porch at the top of the resort have the best view of the playground of the birds! 

Our never-say-die escort has made it his personal cause to give us a sighting of the birds who are playing hard to get! So we go past Gyetsa again on the way back to our hotel, where we need to pack and leave for the airport. We give up after about fifteen minutes of waiting, but the wait has given us a chance to take in the beauty of the evergreen forests covering the mountains above the wide valley.....and..... 

   ........ these very interesting plants with the very bright red stems! They seem to be everywhere where we  are standing and they fascinate me, so vivid is the colour of the stems!

Even our determined escort has given up on the birds by now. Crestfallen, he instructs the police escorts at the head of our carcade to head back to the hotel. Within minutes of hitting the road, there is a call from someone in Gyetsa. Two pairs of black necked cranes have just flown in and landed not far from where we were so hopefully waiting for them! Mr. Never-Say-Die visibly brightens up - he is willing to turn back even now, but we are wet blankets, having finally accepted that we will have to come back here next year or catch them in Phobjikha, much closer home. 

Back at the Yu-Gharling Resort, as if to to make up for last night's awful dinner, we are served the fluffiest, lightest, most amazing omelettes, and to lessen our disappointment with the birding expedition, we have the birds in question right on our table under our noses.....to think we went from pillar to post looking for them.....what were we thinking:) Oh but wait these are not black necked......we just have to come back!    

It wears an off season look and needs work on the plastering and carpeting and exteriors, but at breakfast time Yu-Gharling does itself proud with the views it affords of the Choekhor chhu ( river), the wide valley, the grazing cattle, the Jakar Dzong, the beautiful blue rooftops, some weighted down by rocks....! While I am sure it must definitely resemble the picture perfect lush green Swiss countryside in the summer, Bumthang's winterscape is very unlike that of snow covered Switzerland, though no less perfect. For now, Bumthang has its own unique, soft brown and golden winter beauty that is totally Bhutanese......take a look!      

Jakar Dzong

Seeing Jakar Dzong through the smudgy windows of the hotel restaurant at breakfast time is just not on, but then again for the serious tourist (which I am) it is better than saying we did not 'see' supposedly the largest Dzong in Bhutan ....hahaha! Heading out to the airport to catch our flight, a shopping stop at the Bumthang cheese factory (started in the seventies with Swiss collaboration and know-how) en route is a must for the cheese lovers that we are! The adjoining Red Panda Weiss Beer Brewery, started by the same Swiss gentleman who set up the cheese factory, also calls for a shopping stop but only if we can finish all the beer we buy between now and the flight, or if we can carry it on board, both of which we can't! 

So we give it a miss and carry on to the little airstrip aka Bumthang Airport and wait on its colourful flag decorated tarmac for our flight to arrive ......

The tarmac of Bumthang Airport

Then we see it coming in to land, the little plane that we will board in a minute with a minimum of fuss and formality, and that we hope will one day bring us back for a sip of Red Panda, rich and sinful raclette or fondue at the nearby Swiss Guest House, a real look-see at Jakar Dzong and a rendevouz with our bird friends from Tibet!

     

Bhutan's Foodamentals

An American woman touring Bhutan with her husband mentions in her blog of November 25, 2014 that she felt dissatisfied with the meals they were served during the trip. A paragraph from her blog http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-15930/the-secret-to-perfect-happiness-and-other-lessons-from-bhutan.html reads:

".......The Food

In Bhutan, the meals were all pre-set, meaning you didn't order from a menu. Every lunch and dinner was the same: plain white rice, sautéed veggies in oyster sauce, and mystery chicken stew. The few nights we finished dinner in fifteen minutes, from start to finish. We weren't drinking alcohol, so there was no reason to hang out in the hotel restaurant. We usually arrived at dinner hungry and looking forward to eating, but the seemingly rushed experience sent us back to our room, feeling disappointed."

I know after having lived here for just over five months that while it is not the most famous of cuisines in the world, plain white rice, sautéed veggies in oyster sauce, and mystery chicken stew are not all there is to Bhutanese food. Still, the American lady's blog set me reflecting on the food culture of Bhutan, seeing it mainly through my Indian eyes, from an Indian point of view. 

India has a cuisine that is world famous. Why is it famous? Is it because of the variety of cuisines within India? Why is Indian cuisine so varied? Is it because of the huge number of spices and ingredients that go into it and that have been available to us for millennia, or is it because of the variety of techniques that are used in cooking it? Or is it the human element involved in the cooking of the food? Do the ingredients make a good chef? Or can a good cook make great food no matter what the ingredients? I am not sure. But I guess the more the ingredients, the more the combinations, the creativity, the experimentation, the innovation. Unfortunately though not irrationally, all of this creativity and experimentation gives rise not only to greater analysis, dissection, and critiquing of the food, but also to passion, rapture, preoccupation and even obsession with food! We take in the colour, the texture, the fragrance of the food at a glance. We get put off by the size or shape of the piece of meat or vegetable in a dish. We lose our appetite when we encounter food smells that are unfamiliar to us. All this before we even put the food on our plate, let alone take a nibble. Indians are among the most fastidious about food. Yet it is a very important belief in our culture that to turn up our noses at food, to criticize it or waste it is to disrespect the Annadevata or Annapoorna. Annapoorna is Laxmi, the goddess of abundance, and abundance in its oldest and truest sense is measured not in terms of money, gold, wealth and riches but in grain and food in the granary. We have some of the poorest people in the world who often go without food, and in some parts of the country even starve to death. Food is life and as such it should be respected and valued. A beautiful belief, yet one which we (myself included) lose sight of in our passion for food!

Perhaps all cultures that have a great culinary tradition are guilty of this paradoxical behaviour - the more we love food, the more nitpicky and critical we are about it!   

In complete contrast to the average Indian, I must admit that in the five months I have been here, I have never ever seen or heard a single Bhutanese go into raptures about food, or about a specific dish on the menu at any lunch or dinner that I have attended (and I have met quite a few Bhutanese at quite a few events where there has been food). Whether it is a Bhutanese wedding banquet or a reception at a five star restaurant or a dinner at someone's house or a picnic or a meal at a restaurant, the interest in the taste and quality of the food is minimal. Food neither depresses the Bhutanese nor makes them ecstatic. They display the same equanimity towards food as they do towards most other things.

At the risk of sounding cliched, they eat to live, not the other way around. They eat what they produce, and embellish it with only very few, easily available ingredients from neighbouring countries. They use quick, basic techniques that the availability of time in a long day in the field and the cooking infrastructure would allow. Just to give an example, if cooking gas is used, the uninterrupted supply of gas cylinders and refills would depend on the regularity of transportation, which in its turn would depend on the weather, the quality of the roads, and the landslides en route! The availability of fancy or foreign ingredients would depend on all of the aforementioned factors as also the perishability of the ingredients themselves. As a result while it is an agrarian economy that is plentiful in red rice, corn, buckwheat, fruits and vegetables, we notice that most food is simply cooked or dried, steamed, ground, beaten, roasted or sometimes pickled, and consumed with or without the addition of a minimum of spices and condiments, so that it has a more or less neutral or natural taste as in the 'zou' (tiny, crunchy puffed rice') or beaten corn that is often consumed dunked in a warm beverage. Chillies are the only ingredient that spike the Bhutanese food and lift it substantially away from otherwise neutral flavours. Fruit is mostly consumed fresh or in dried form, rather than in the form of jams, jellies, juices, halwas, tarts, compotes, sauces, gateaus, souffles and cakes that we in other parts of the world are so fond of.

Crunchy 'zou'

Being a small, landlocked, mountainous country in which transportation is a challenge even in this second decade of the 21st century, is it surprising that the culinary art or culinary variety has not developed as in countries that are large, that have coastlines and all weather ports, geographical and climatic variety, and that have had land and sea trade routes with other countries for centuries if not millennia?  

Modern day Bhutan has no shortage of electricity, the roads are getting to be of better quality, more widespread and well connected, tourism both to and from Bhutan is increasing, air connections with Bhutan are multiplying, media exposure is ever growing, experiments with all kinds of produce not traditionally grown or produced in Bhutan are being conducted (the recent Mountain Hazelnuts Venture in Mongar and the older Swiss-like cheese made in Bumthang are cases in point), and the Bhutanese are being encouraged to go into agro processing to widen the country's industrial base. 

The Mountain Hazelnut Venture in Mongar

The Bumthang cheese has a pleasantly neutral taste similar to Swiss cheese

All of these factors may lead to the development of a more sophisticated and varied Bhutanese cuisine in the decades, or more likely in the centuries to come, for all world famous cuisines have taken that long to evolve into what they are today. Events like the upcoming food festival that will highlight and showcase Bhutanese food will provide a fillip to this process of evolution. (To read more about the food festival go to   http://www.kuenselonline.com/bhif-biff-music-plus-the-food-of-lifea/). More creative uses of local produce may result in time to come - for instance the local, slightly crumbly and neutral tasting, white cheese may be put to uses other than only in all the varieties of datshi, that most famous of Bhutanese dishes made by melting and cooking this cheese with either potatoes, chillies or mushrooms, to name the few combinations I have eaten. But then again this experimentation and innovativeness may not happen - maybe the Bhutanese would like to keep things just the way they are, maybe they would not want to become like all the rest of us who often look and behave as if we live to eat, for whom food must be delicious or nothing, for whom the taste and appearance of the food has the power to control how we feel about the world on any given day!  

Coming back to the blog that set me thinking about food in Bhutan, the American blogger says at the end of her blog "On the last day of our stay in Bhutan, we started appreciating the nuances of the food, the variations in the flavor of the sauce or the way the vegetables were cooked, or the unexpected presence of greens. Gluten- and dairy-free were mostly out the window for the week, and we stopped caring that our small meals weren't always enough to satisfy our hunger. .....(It is).a lack of choice that fuels the national happiness quotient they (the Bhutanese) often talk about. I realized that I don't need some of the things I thought I did to be happy. I don't need to have my meals always be delicious and balanced....... I need simple, clean and satiating food." 



I have found this to be true myself. All that is really needed when hunger comes a-calling is fresh, clean, wholesome and reasonably palatable food that satiates the appetite. Whatever we eat beyond what the stomach needs is because the palate and the eyes like it, and this is the part of the meal that causes us pain while seeming to give us pleasure. Having said that, I don't completely agree with the blogger when she says that there is a complete lack of choice - this is not strictly true. In their daily lives, the Bhutanese show and exercise a strong preference for Indian food apart from their indigenous cuisine. Their preference could easily have tilted towards Chinese cuisine, considering that the Bhutanese and Tibetan cultures are closely linked (and Tibet being a part of China is most certainly influenced by its food culture), but it has not. This goes to show that they are neither completely disinterested in food, nor are they completely without food choices. They just don't let it rule their lives and their happiness. This attitude, which seemingly regards food more as a means of sustenance and less as something that gives pleasure, probably accounts for the fact that one rarely sees an obese Bhutanese! 

While I happen to be a member of the nitpicky-about-food tribe, I think that it would not be a bad idea to start the new year by refraining from complaining about food, criticising it, and obsessing about it, and just give thanks to Annapoorna for the abundance she bestows on my household. It is easier said than done, but I sure am going to give it a try!  

As I sign off though, since this blog entry is about Bhutan's 'foodamentals', one thought I leave you with is that Bhutan is not without its own food paradoxes. A staunchly Buddhist country, I am told it does not freely allow fishing or the slaughter of animals for food. Yet the Bhutanese definitely like their meat a lot. So what do they do? They import most of their meat, poultry and seafood in frozen form and feel light of conscience and happy that their Buddhist principles have not been compromised! Notwithstanding this interesting paradox, and to give them credit for trying to stay true to their Buddhist ideals, butchers' shops and meat counters in supermarkets remain strictly closed on certain holy days of the week or month (I am not sure how these days are fixed), which must pinch the Bhutanese and sorely test their will power I am sure!