Monday, November 25, 2013

Do It Yourself


This may be surprising; there are no supermarkets - the way you know them in the west - in Bhutan. In the developed world, fresh pasteurized milk and eggs and drinkable water from the tap are taken for granted. But here, in this small developing country, the milk has to be boiled to make it safe, and soft-boiled eggs can be deadly. Also, to purify the water, you need to boil it, then wait for it to cool, and finally transfer the water to a water filter.


So basically, we don't have a lot of processed food. My dad makes home-made yogurt (the packaged one produced locally is not to our taste) and my mother makes bread - and pizza - at home. In the past few years, more and more bakeries have opened in Thimphu and the bread and pastry situation has improved. There are not many bakeries, because the usual carbohydrate in the meal is rice, so bread is not commonly used.
A family in the US with all the food they eat in a week


A family in Bhutan with all the food that they eat in a week
Photo: http://world.time.com/2013/09/20/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/photo/bhu01-0001-xxf1s-2/