Gudpak: Nepali food with visible cultural connection, impressive popularity and semi-known history

Suresh Gamal has been making sweets since a young age. After working as an apprentice in another big shop in Maru of Kathmandu, he opened up his own shop, Shree Ganesh Mithai Pasal at Dhalko, some eight years ago and today manages it with his wife, Reena. Over these years, he has learned and made a lot of sweets, including breakfast snacks, barfi, lalmohan, rasbari, lakhmari, gudpak and pustakari.

In his experience, gudpak and pustakari are popular among his customers and hence thinks they hold some importance in the city’s cultural life. But, even after his years of making sweets, he is unaware of how or when gudpak and pustakari came into existence.