Hospitality and food are inextricably linked here. Whether in the remotest valley or the chicest restaurant, many of the same ingredients are used to conjure astonishingly diverse creations: cheeses of yak or cow milk, red rice, butter, buckwheat and always, always chillies. Chillies of every possible type and permutation – red or green, dried, in pastes or sambals – are the nation’s favourite vegetable, making our warm welcome a literal one.

Photo Gallery