Natural Roots Foundation

Natural Roots Foundation © Food Archives & Research । नेपाली खानाको इतिहास
🌱🌕️🌾Guardian of ancestral indigenous knowledge

Established in 2017, Natural Roots has actively been working to document and archive indigenous recipes, and food practices of Nepal. In addition to its documentation of Indigenous Food Heritage in Nepal, it has been conducting intergenerational food heritage workshops with indigenous youths in Pokhara and Kathmandu.

In solidarity with everyone affected by the immense disaster we are initiating a fundraising campaign through the Lekhal...
31/08/2026

In solidarity with everyone affected by the immense disaster we are initiating a fundraising campaign through the Lekhali Cookbook. All proceeds from the sale of the cookbook will be contributed to the Nepal Flood Relief Fund.

Thank you to our friends who reached out to ask about us and that of the communities in the central Himalayas, we are grateful for your care and support 🙏🏼

Over the centuries, while living intimately with nature in the Himalayan mountains, indigenous communities of Nepal have...
11/08/2026

Over the centuries, while living intimately with nature in the Himalayan mountains, indigenous communities of Nepal have developed unique food techniques that involve foraging and fermenting.
In the Lekhali Cookbook you can find foraged food items and recipes such as wild nettle soup from Lamjung, Himalayan rhubarb from Mustang and the unique marcha (yeast cakes for making alcoholic beverage). It also shows the food processes that have been preserved and passed down within the Himalayan pastoralist communities such as the preparation of churpi and yak sausage with a special focus on women as knowledge holders.
While we were in Europe we had the opportunity to share our work and offer a copy of the book to the indigenous unit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy. Our heartfelt thanks to Ann for receiving us 🙏🏼

🍛🌱 Today, on shrawan 15, we celebrate the conclusion of the rice planting period. After more than a month of planting ri...
31/07/2026

🍛🌱 Today, on shrawan 15, we celebrate the conclusion of the rice planting period. After more than a month of planting rice, the people working in the field gather together with their family for a restful day filled with food.

Historically, rice has been grown in Nepal for a very long time in places like Kathmandu and the Kapilavastu region, whereas in the higher Himalayas rice was introduced only in the thirteenth century through terrace farming.
While today’s festive day is marked as kheer khane din (day to eat kheer, a rice-based pudding cooked in milk, ghee and sugar), not everyone celebrates the day with kheer. In the central highlands, the day is observed by preparing selroti, which is made with fermented rice batter and served with gundruk and some jaad or raksi.

In The Rice Book, food historian Sri Owen writes beautifully how over thousands of years rice has been cultivated and prepared in so many different ways. And how it has spread across the world, from south east Asia to the Middle East and Europe, with each region coming up with its own recipes.

ब्रसेल्स सहरमा हाम्रा साथीहरूको पहल, सहयोग र उदारतामा नेपाल फूड आर्काइभ्सका हाम्रा खाना सम्बन्धी भिडियोहरू (तुसा र याक च...
31/07/2026

ब्रसेल्स सहरमा हाम्रा साथीहरूको पहल, सहयोग र उदारतामा नेपाल फूड आर्काइभ्सका हाम्रा खाना सम्बन्धी भिडियोहरू (तुसा र याक चिज) प्रदर्शनी भईयो। नेपालको एउटा परिकार पनि पकाइयो; जंगलबाट टिपेको खाना नभएकाले, हामीले काठमाडौंको असन बजारका मसलाहरू प्रयोग गरी मसौरा (सुकाइएको कालो मास र पिँडालुको पात) बनायौं। फापर र जंगली च्याउलगायत अरू धेरै खानेकुराहरू तयारि गरिएको थियो।

A screening of our food videos (bamboo shoots and yak cheese) from Nepal Food Archives. Many thanks to our friends in Brussels for their generosity in hosting us in the city. It was a joy to cook a dish from Nepal; in the absence of foraged food, we made masaura (sun-dried black lentils and young taro leaves) with spices from the vibrant Ason bazaar in Kathmandu. Wonderful to have the buckwheat grains and wild mushrooms among many other foods.

एम्स्टर्डममा रहेको विश्वप्रसिद्ध कुकबुक पसल 'De Kookboekhandel' मा पुग्न पाउँदा निकै खुसी लाग्यो। यो हाम्रो पहिलो भ्रमण ...
01/07/2026

एम्स्टर्डममा रहेको विश्वप्रसिद्ध कुकबुक पसल 'De Kookboekhandel' मा पुग्न पाउँदा निकै खुसी लाग्यो। यो हाम्रो पहिलो भ्रमण थियो! अबका दिनहरूमा, विश्वभरका कुकबुक प्रेमीहरूका लागि हाम्रो 'लेखली कुकबुक' (Lekhali Cookbook) पनि यहाँ उपलब्ध हुनेछ।
त्यहा रैथाने ज्ञानमा केन्द्रित र स्थानीय खाद्य संस्कृतिका रक्षकहरूलाई प्राथमिकता दिने अन्य कुकबुकहरू देख्दा निकै प्रेरणा मिल्यो। तिनैमध्ये एउटा उत्कृष्ट पुस्तक थियो 'Maluku', जुन मालुकु टापुहरूको खाद्य सम्पदामा आधारित छ।

So lovely to be at the world renowned cookbook shop De Kookboekhandel in the city of Amsterdam. Our first visit! In the coming days, our Lekhali Cookbook will also be available here for cookbook lovers worldwide.
While at the shop, it was so inspiring to see some other cookbooks along similar lines with a focus on indigenous knowledge and foregrounding the local food custodians. One among them was the beautiful Maluku, which is about the food heritage in the Maluku Islands.

केही हप्ता अघि विभिन्न प्रकारका सिस्नु खोज्न र भेट्न पाए। शताब्दीयौंदेखि, नेपालका आदिवासी समुदायहरूले खाना र कपडाको लागि...
24/06/2026

केही हप्ता अघि विभिन्न प्रकारका सिस्नु खोज्न र भेट्न पाए। शताब्दीयौंदेखि, नेपालका आदिवासी समुदायहरूले खाना र कपडाको लागि सिस्नु प्रयोग गर्दै आएका छन् र आज पनि, सिस्नुको खोले धेरै घरपरिवारमा धेरै मनपर्ने परिकार हो। जातीय दृष्टिकोणबाट, यसलाई अशुद्ध खाना, वा गरिबीको खानाको रूपमा तोकिएको थियो। शरीरमा ताप उत्पन्न गर्ने गुणहरूको कारण, यसलाई जाडोको खाना मानिन्छ, वा गर्मी महिनाहरूमा सन्तुलित मात्रामा सेवन गर्नुपर्छ। सिस्नुको रेसिपी र कथाहरूको लागि, द लेखली कुकबुक हेर्नुहोस्।

Wonderful to forage and come across different varieties of nettles. For centuries, indigenous communities in Nepal have used nettles for food and textiles; even today, sisnu ko khole is a much-loved dish in many households. From a caste perspective, it was assigned as an unclean food, or a poverty food. Because of its heat generating properties in the body, it is considered a winter food, or one to be consumed in moderation in hotter months. For recipes and stories of nettle, check out The Lekhali Cookbook.

🥗🍽️ Food Yatra in the Netherlands: From the traditional Dutch herring to Indian thali, Malaysian Nasi Lemak, Lebanese Me...
24/06/2026

🥗🍽️ Food Yatra in the Netherlands: From the traditional Dutch herring to Indian thali, Malaysian Nasi Lemak, Lebanese Mezze Platter to making our version of Himalayan red kidney beans salad.

Visiting one of the many windmills in central Netherlands. This mill set up in 1755 has been in use for grinding grains,...
11/06/2026

Visiting one of the many windmills in central Netherlands. This mill set up in 1755 has been in use for grinding grains, and even today, the miller continue to make different flour mixture from grains such as wheat, spelt, buckwheat.

From the buckwheat flour, a traditional Dutch meat loaf called Balkenbrij is made mixed with pork stock, raisin and a spice blend called rommelkruid. After preparing, it is left to cool and set into a loaf which is sliced into thick slabs. The slices are then fried in a pan with butter and eaten as a savory snack.

In Nepal buckwheat is a staple food, visit Nepal Food Archives to see how the young leaves are harvested and processed at the mill powered by water ways in the Himalayas.

Buckwheat Leaves Soup, Nepal Food Archives:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J22zaGNxWKY&ra=m

नेदरल्याण्डको मध्य भागमा रहेका धेरै पवनचक्कीहरूमध्ये यो पवनचक्की एक हो । सन् १७५५ मा स्थापित यो मिलले अन्न पिस्ने सुबिधा उपयोगमा लाउदै आएको छ‌ र आजसम्म पनि मिलरले गहुँ, स्पेल्ट, फापरजस्ता अन्नहरूबाट विभिन्न पिठोका मिश्रणहरू बनाउँदै आएका छन्।

फापरको पिठोबाट बाल्केनब्राइ नामक परम्परागत डच मासुको रोटी बनाइन्छ, जसमा सुँगुरको झोल, किसमिस र रोम्मेलक्रुइड भनिने मसला मिश्रण मिसाइन्छ। तयार गरिसकेपछि, यसलाई चिसो पारेर रोटीको आकारमा जमाइन्छ र मोटो टुक्राहरूमा काटिन्छ। त्यसपछि ती टुक्राहरूलाई मक्खनसहित तावामा भुटेर स्वादिलो खाजाको रूपमा खाइन्छ।

नेपालमा फापर एउटा मुख्य खाद्यान्न हो। कलिलो पातहरू कसरी टिपिन्छन् र हिमालयका जलमार्गद्वारा सञ्चालित मिलमा कसरी प्रशोधन गरिन्छ भन्ने हेर्न नेपाल फूड आर्काइभ्स हेर्नुहोस्।

फापरको पातको सुप, नेपाल फूड आर्काइभ्स:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J22zaGNxWKY&ra=m

📚📍Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to offer a copy of The Lekhali Cookbook to the Allard Pierson library in Am...
02/06/2026

📚📍Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to offer a copy of The Lekhali Cookbook to the Allard Pierson library in Amsterdam. This institute in the Netherlands is world-renowned for its vast collection of gastronomical books and to have our book on Himalayan food culture included there is so immensely meaningful for us and the wider community. We hope that our contribution gives recognition and better visibility to the rich food heritage that has been preserved and shared by the indigenous women with whom we have worked for this book.

While at the library we also had the good fortune to be shown a fascinating selection of rare cookbooks published in the Netherlands over the centuries, the oldest dating back to the 17th century. Many thanks to the librarian IJsbrand van Dijk for making this possible and sharing his knowledge with us.

CPF Department for Culture, Media and Sport British Council Nepal

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