text: Cuisine Tharus have a rich and diverse food culture. Their cuisine varies depending on the region they inhabit. Ghonghi is a fresh water snail dish eaten by sucking the snail from its shell. It is served with rice and this combination, for indigenous people in Terai, had been a staple food for ages. Dhikri is a popular western Tharu dish which is prepared by making a dough with warm water and rice flour and is eaten with spicy chutney. Bagiya is similar to dhikri but is popular among eastern Tharus and consists of an external covering of rice flour and an inner content of sweet substances such like chaku, vegetables and other fried items. Bhakkha is a fluffy rice cake popular among Tharus of eastern Nepal and is usually eaten with freshly made chutney or achaar.  Sidhara is a mixture of taro root, dried fish and turmeric that is formed into cakes and dried for preservation. The cakes are broken up and cooked with radish, chili, garlic and other spices to accompany boiled rice.Another short compendium of Tharu recipes includes roasted crab, wheat flatbread fried in mustard oil, and fried taro leaf cakes. Drinking and offering home-made alcohols which are also known as Jaar, Raksi or Chhaang are one of the core culture of Tharus.
  Genetics
  Genetic studies on Y-DNA of Tharu people from two villages in Chitwan district and one in Morang district revealed a high presence of Haplogroup O-M117 (33.3%) followed by Haplogroup H (25.7%), Haplogroup J2a-M410(xM68, M47, M67, M158) (9.9%), Haplogroup R1a (8.8%), Haplogroup R2a-M124 (4.7%), Haplogroup J2b2-M12/M102/M241(xM99) (4.1%), Haplogroup D-M174 (3.5%), Haplogroup L-M20 (2.3%), Haplogroup O-M95 (2.3%), Haplogroup E-M35 (1.8%), Haplogroup O-M134(xM117) (1.2%), Haplogroup Q-M242 (1.2%), Haplogroup C1b1a1-M356 (0.6%), and Haplogroup K-M9(xM70, M20, M214, M74) (0.6%). A genetic study on mtDNA of several Tharus in Nepal showed that the total of South Asian mtDNA haplogroups ranges from 31.6% to 67.5% in the Tharu while the total of East Asian mtDNA haplogroups ranges from 32.5% to 68.4% depending on the Tharu group studied.
  A genetic survey of Tharus from Nepal, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh showed that they have both a South Asian and an East Asian human genetic origin.
  Resistance to malaria
  The Tharu are famous for their ability to survive in the malarial parts of the Terai that were deadly to outsiders.