Most Nepalese eat two meals and an afternoon snack. People usually eat food with the right hand and sometimes a spoon. Because of the Hindu principle of jutho (impurity), food is not shared from the same plate. When one drinks water from a communal container, one's lips do not touch it. Higher-caste Hindus will not eat food touched by those outside their caste or religion. At social gatherings involving more than one caste, Brahmins cook the food because everyone else is of a lower caste and can eat the meal. Only roti (flat bread) can be prepared by a lower-caste person. People rarely eat at restaurants. Men socialize at teahouses; they eat at small restaurants if traveling.

Diet varies according to region and caste. In the Kathmandu valley, the Newar group have their own unique cuisine of spicy meat and vegetable dishes; in the flat plains of the Terai, eating roti (bread) and a vast range of Indian curries is quite common; in the Himlayas, the traditional food is essentially Tibetan, consisting of soups, pastas, potatoes and toasted flour.

A typical breakfast and dinner meal throughout Nepal is dahl baht (white rice and lentil soup), curried vegetables, and achar (chutney) - for many Nepalis, it's the only meal they eat, twice a day, everyday! There are many types of dahl baht, each slightly different in taste and texture, though the most common includes cauliflower and potatoes. It is often served on a steel plate divided into compartments - the rice in one compartment, the dahl in another, and the curry (terkari) in a third.

Try cooking your own dahl baht by using this traditional recipe given to us by a Nepali wife.