Ladakhi lunch in a village kitchen

Ladakhi food is built around what grows at 3,500 m: barley, wheat, peas, potatoes, turnips, apricots, and the milk of dzo and goats. We arrange lunch with a family in one of the villages around Leh, such as Stok or Saboo, where most households still farm. You arrive mid-morning, take off your shoes at the kitchen door and sit on the rugs while the family puts the kettle on. Families welcome guests warmly.

The cooking is hands-on. You roll and pinch small discs of dough for skyu, a thick stew of wheat pasta, root vegetables and sometimes mutton, and you watch the grandmother churn butter tea in a wooden cylinder called a gurgur. There is usually tsampa, roasted barley flour, which is mixed with tea into a paste called paba. If you visit in late summer, the apricots will be drying on the roof.

Lunch is unhurried and conversation is helped by your guide, who translates. The family is paid directly for their time and the food. We keep groups to your own party only, so it feels like a visit rather than a show. Vegetarian and gluten-aware menus are possible with notice, though wheat and barley are central to almost every dish. The visit lasts about three hours, including the drive. Bring an appetite.