Cultural Cuisine: Sick Foods - Air Nomads
Like with other cultural cuisine posts about the Air Nomads, their "sick food" will reflect the ingredients available to them living high up in the mountains and through their symbiotic relationship with the sky bisons. Their dishes would also specifically address the ailments that would commonly befall those who live at high altitudes.
1. Roasted Barley Porridge
As always, we're starting our list off with a soothing bowl of porridge. For an Air Nomad porridge, the key ingredient would be tsampa (ą½¢ą¾©ą½ą¼ą½ą¼) or roasted barley flour. Barley is a grain that is nutrient-dense, prebiotic, and high in soluble fiber; it also helps to lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar, and support digestive health. Grinding barley into flour and then roasting it also allows it to be easily digestible.
When made into a porridge, the barley flour mixture is known as tsamthuk (ą½¢ą¾©ą½ą¼ą½ą½“ą½ą¼) in Tibetan. This simple and healthy meal involves stirring roasted barley flour with water or milk and then heating the mixture until it thickens into your desired consistency. Like all porridges, tsamthuk is quite versatile in terms of what can be added to it. Typical vegetarian add-ins include butter, panfried cheese curds, simmered legumes, diced mushrooms, and minced root vegetables like droma or radishes. It's also often paired with a flat bread like balep or chapati. For someone feeling unwell, a basic tsamthuk with some panfried cheese curds and minced root vegetables would probably be easiest on the stomach. Overall, I believe this porridge would be a staple of all four air temples.
2. Lentil & Rice Porridge
Called jaulo (ą¤ą¤¾ą¤ą¤²ą„) in Nepali, this nutritious and vegetarian-friendly dish is made by cooking rice and lentils together into a soft porridge. It is highly regarded as an easy-to-digest comfort food often served to those recovering from illness. As rice does not grow abundantly in the mountains where the air temples reside, this porridge is often made when an Air Nomad is out herding bison in another nation. This porridge would end up living on as "Earth Kingdom" cuisine, often prepared and consumed by those descended from the Air Nomads; although many do not realize what culture the dish actually comes from.
Called jwano ko jhol (ą¤ą„ą¤µą¤¾ą¤Øą„ą¤ą„ ą¤ą„ą¤²) in Nepali, this nourishing soup is known for its medicinal properties. It's often used to treat colds, coughs, and digestive issues.Ā It is also highly regarded as a healing food for postpartum recovery, as it encourages milk production and strengthens the uterine walls. The soup is prepared by sautĆ©ing carom seeds in ghee, adding water and spices, and then simmering all the ingredients together to create a warm and fragrant soup.
This soup would be a specialty of the Eastern Air Temple, which I headcanon as the temple responsible for looking after pregnant Air Nomads, pregnant sky bison, newborn babies, and newborn sky bison calves. This soup would be fed to both recovering human and sky bison mothers.
Pretty much what is says in the title: Wheat noodles cooked in a light vegetable broth, often with additions such as potatoes, radishes, and fresh leafy greens. The shape of the noodles is what differentiates the various vegetable noodle soups. Thukpa (ą½ą½“ą½ą¼ą½) has long and stringy noodles, thenthuk (ą½ ą½ą½ŗą½ą¼ą½ą½“ą½ą¼) has short and flat noodles, bhakthuk (ą½ą½ą¼ą½ą½“ą½) has noodles shaped like cowry shells, and mokthuk's (ą½ą½¼ą½ą¼ą½ą½“ą½) noodles are actually wonton-like dumplings. No matter the noodle-style, it's a healthy and easily digestible dish for those recovering from illness.
5. Fermented Vegetable Soup
The Air Nomads would likely ferment and dry their own temple-grown greens and radishes, so they can be easily carried and used to create tangy soups all year round and in any location. Soup made from fermented and dried greens is known as gundruk ko jhol (ą¤ą„ą¤Øą„ą¤¦ą„ą¤°ą„ą¤ą¤ą„ ą¤ą„ą¤²) in Nepali and is typically comprised of radish leaves, mustard greens, and cauliflower leaves. Soup made from fermented and dried radish taproots is known as sinki ko jhol (ą¤øą¤æą¤Øą„ą¤ą„ ą¤ą„ą¤²) in Nepali. You can also combine the two (gundruk & sinki) for an even more flavorful soup.
Both of these soups are ideal for those suffering from digestive discomfort or recovering from illness due to their high nutritional value, immune-boosting vitamins, and natural probiotic content.
Called jaju (ą½¢ą¾ą¾±ą¼ą½¢ą¾ą¾±ą½“) in Bhutan, this is a light and creamy soup made from leafy greens, milk, and butter. The leafy greens will typically be spinach, radish leaves, or pumpkin leaves. As you can imagine, this simple soup is nutritious and easy to digest. I imagine that this soup would be a seasonal spring specialty of the Eastern Air Temple, as that would be when the sky bison mothers would be lactating the most and the leafy greens would be freshest.
Airbending within the climate of the air temples can be quite taxing on the body, with altitude sickness being especially common. One way the Air Nomads combat this illness is through the consumption of butter tea, a popular drink throughout the Himalayas. The fat, calories, and salt of butter tea provide immediate warmth, energy, and vital electrolytes to a body suffering from the effects of altitude sickness.
Known as tongba (ą¤¤ą„ą¤ą¤¬ą¤¾) in Nepal, this millet-based drink is popular across the Himalayas. The beverage is made byĀ fermenting cooked millet with koji or murcha for several days, then steeping the solid fermented grains in a wood or bamboo container with hot water andĀ sipping the resulting mixture through a bamboo strawĀ with a built-in filter. The alcohol content is generally quite low, at around 2-5%. Tongba is rich in antioxidants and amino acids that keep you warm and hydrated, allowing the body to withstand the cold, dry climate of the air temples and preventing altitude sickness.
