This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).

A teenage boy strides across the courtyard, casually scooping a chicken from the ground and tucking it under his arm like a plumed designer clutch bag. Shortly after, the same bird makes a surprise reappearance on my plate — charred feathers and all. It’s part of an elaborate feast prepared by Kamala Rai, my host for the next few days in Sipting, a village in the mist-shrouded hills of eastern Nepal’s Dhankuta region.

Kamala, her hair wrapped in a vibrant flash of fuchsia-coloured silk, deftly tends to steaming pots and pans as we chat in her kitchen, lit by stubs of candles following a temporary electricity cut. She’s quick to explain that roasting the household chicken over an open flame isn’t a daily affair. No, this o

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