Tourism has made sure that you can eat just about any cuisine you want, Indianised of course. However if you dare to eat in the small joints run here you will find an amazing fare.
In the morning you will find most places serving stuffed parothas with amazing local chutneys. One of the chutneys I tasted was made from tamarind and was sweet, sour and spicy at the same time.
Lunch seems to be plain rotis or parothas with black chana curry. Beware of the curry, it is not very spicy but on the first bite the different spices will send a shock through you. Dinner seems to be dals and curries with rotis. This is largely a wheat eating state.
Look out for local fruits in the market, some of them are not available outside this state. In Mussoorie I ate that I was told were a variety of cashews. They took a lot of peeling and were sweet and tasty. In Nainital I found the coco fruit, that looked like smooth oranges; very juicy with huge seeds.
The state seems to have a sweet tooth. Almost every eatery has a display of a wide variety of sweets. Everyone here seems to relish sweets and a bit of mithai is a must after every meal. I remember one day as the bus stopped the shop vendor opposite called out about fresh sweets. About half the bus got down to buy some and that too in kgs.
Some sweets that I saw most often and that are supposed to be the Uttaranchal specialty are toffee (it’s like a toffee bar), Bal Mithai (chocolate flavored and covered with white sugar, its very sweet) and Basin Ladoo (This I came to love).
The food is not expensive and well priced except in posh hotels in the big towns. Not to be missed is the chai here, sweet and tasty you can just keep drinking cups of it.