editorial

Seven of the Monpa women behind the Damu’s Heritage Dine project.

Damu&#8217;s Heritage Dine India &#8211; Monpa Women Behind Project Hero Shot

Words by Kalpana Sunder 
October 2, 2026
In northeast India, a women-led dining experience is focused on reviving traditional Monpa ingredients and dishes.
<figure id="attachment_164051" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-164051" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-164051" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Farmhouse-Exterior-and-Momos-with-Red-Rice-and-Curry.jpeg" alt="A centuries-old farmhouse is now the home of Damu’s Heritage Dine; an assortment of momos with red rice and churpi sabji, a curry made with yak cheese." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Farmhouse-Exterior-and-Momos-with-Red-Rice-and-Curry.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Farmhouse-Exterior-and-Momos-with-Red-Rice-and-Curry-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Farmhouse-Exterior-and-Momos-with-Red-Rice-and-Curry-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Farmhouse-Exterior-and-Momos-with-Red-Rice-and-Curry-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-164051" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: A centuries-old farmhouse is now the home of Damu’s Heritage Dine; an assortment of momos with red rice and churpi sabji, a curry made with yak cheese. (All photos courtesy of Damu’s Heritage Dine)</figcaption></figure>
Hidden among the forests and mountains of Arunachal Pradesh, Chug Valley is not an easy place to reach. Visitors can either endure a bumpy nine-hour drive from Guwahati Airport or take the shorter five-hour journey from Tezpur in neighboring Assam. Yet those who make the trip are rewarded with an unspoiled Himalayan landscape that is home to the indigenous Monpa community, whose culinary traditions and architectural heritage are at the heart of one of northeast <a href="https://destinasian.com/travel-guide/india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India</a>’s most intriguing dining destinations.
Called <a href="https://www.instagram.com/damusheritagedine/?DestinAsian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Damu’s Heritage Dine</a>, it occupies a 300-year-old stone farmhouse where eight Monpa women from Chug village are safeguarding traditional recipes and food practices that were at risk of being forgotten amid a gradual shift from heritage grains and foraged greens to store-bought foods.
The brainchild of Nishant Sinha, a community-based tourism specialist who moved to nearby Dirang in 2023 to work with WWF-India, the rustic lunch-only restaurant seats just 12 guests at a time amid cheerfully painted windows and locally woven textiles. An Assamese chef worked with the women to develop a seasonal seven-course menu centered on ingredients grown, raised, and foraged in and around the village.
The dishes are inspired by old family recipes—some traditional, others reinterpreted. Among them are phursing gombu, or charcoal-roasted maize tarts infused with yak ghee and lacquer-tree resin; and takto khazi, handmade buckwheat noodles served with wild herbs and a fermented soybean sauce. There’s also buckwheat pancakes, millet momos stuffed with yak cheese, and kamtang, a creamy stew of pumpkin and glass noodles. The meal is rounded off with dressi—red rice fried in yak ghee with crushed jaggery and walnuts.
“Traditional crops such as millet and buckwheat had gradually disappeared from our fields,” says Rinchin, who leads the group. “This project has helped revive them and created an extra source of income for local farmers.” At Damu’s, it’s a recipe for a unique heritage experience.
<figure id="attachment_164049" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-164049" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-164049" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Monpa-Women-Behind-Project.jpeg" alt="Seven of the Monpa women behind the Damu’s Heritage Dine project." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Monpa-Women-Behind-Project.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Monpa-Women-Behind-Project-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Monpa-Women-Behind-Project-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Monpa-Women-Behind-Project-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-164049" class="wp-caption-text">Seven of the Monpa women behind the project.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_164052" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-164052" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-164052" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Buckwheat-Momos-and-Farmhouse-Interior.jpeg" alt="Millet momos are a standout lunch dish at Damu’s Heritage Dine; the farmhouse interior." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Buckwheat-Momos-and-Farmhouse-Interior.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Buckwheat-Momos-and-Farmhouse-Interior-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Buckwheat-Momos-and-Farmhouse-Interior-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Damus-Heritage-Dine-India-Buckwheat-Momos-and-Farmhouse-Interior-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-164052" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Millet momos are a standout lunch dish at Damu’s Heritage Dine; the farmhouse interior.</figcaption></figure>
This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October/November 2026</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Monpa on the Menu”). Buy a single issue or subscribe <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

A Taste of Monpa Heritage Flavors in Remote Arunachal Pradesh