Street food in Kathmandu: a short history of momo

Ask ten people where momo came from and most will say Tibet. The fuller story runs through the Newar merchant families who travelled the trade route north and brought the recipe back, adapting it to buffalo meat and valley spices. (Various)

From a handful of valley restaurants in the 1970s it has spread to every town in the country and to Nepali restaurants on five continents.

The variations

Steamed, fried, in soup, with jhol achar or sesame-tomato sauce, filled with chicken, buff, vegetables or paneer: the argument about which is correct is itself a national pastime.