Culinary tourism has always played a pivotal role in Italy and France, among other countries in the world. Over the years, food tourism elsewhere has gone on to become a vital component of the tourism experience.
But, it is just the opposite in Bhutan.
Despite, the New York Times listing Bhutan at number five of the top places to visit this year, repetitive and bland food, could prove to be a possible setback for an otherwise booming tourism sector in the country.
According to the Bhutan Tourism Monitor report, there are increasing number of food related complaints by the visitors.
The report also states that, buffet system by many of the local hotels accommodating tourists, is one of the reasons why tourists find food in the country monotonous.
The Chairperson of Guide Association of Bhutan, Garab Dorji, said food is a concern. He said every time they take their guests to a restaurant, the menu is the same. “It is either rice, chicken, or seasonal vegetable.”
Luxury hotels like Amankora, having known the importance of gastronomy and tourism, gives food a top priority by hiring professional chefs.
Amankora’s Chef, Matthew Schaefer, said they have five hotels in the country and each hotel has expat chefs. “…If I were a Bhutanese restaurateur and I wanted to meet the next level, I would hire a Bhutanese chef from Aman or from Taj or any good hotels in the country.”
In order to improve quality of tourism services, especially on food, the tour operators were to be guided by the 1999 Rules and Regulations. The rules talk about ‘Minimum Meal Entitlement’. The minimum meal entitlement lists out a variety of food items for each meals. But the rule was hardly implemented. After that, the Tourism Council of Bhutan issued a notification to the restaurants to strictly offer A La Carte Services- which means a separate price for each item on the menu – instead of buffets.
