A typical North-Indian meal would consist of chapatis or rotis, unleavened bread baked on a griddle or parathas, unleavened bread fried on a griddle, rice and an assortment of accessories like dals, spiced vegetables, curries, curd, chutney, and pickles. An everyday meal would comprise bread, corn bread, greens and buttermilk or lassi. Buttermilk or whipped yogurt can be had sweetened or with salt and is a very refreshing drink, especially in the summer. Wheat is the staple food in North India . Shredded vegetables mixed with spices and stuffed into the dough, which is then rolled and roasted to make the delicious stuffed parathas. Indian cottage cheese called paneer is another popular North Indian fare, which is cooked in a wide variety of curries and with accompanying vegetables.

North Indian food is incomplete without food cooked in the Tandoor, the traditional rounded-top oven made of brick and clay and fired with coal. It is used to bake foods over direct heat produced from a smoky fire. The dough for the Indian bread, naan is slapped directly onto the oven's clay walls and left to bake until puffy and lightly browned. Meats, marinated with spices, ginger and garlic paste and curd are cooked in the tall, cylindrical tandoor. They are usually skewered and thrust into the oven's heat, which is so intense, usually over 500°F that it cooks a chicken half in less than 5 minutes.

Sweets are very popular all over India . Jalebis, luscious pretzel shaped loops fried to a golden crisp and soaked in saffron syrup can be had from any street vendor in North India . Kheer or payasam are equivalents of the rice pudding and kulfi is an Indian ice cream made in conical moulds and frozen. North Indian desserts are rich in taste as they are derived from a milk pudding or rice base and are usually soaked in syrup. Kheer a form of rice pudding, shahi tukra or bread pudding and kulfi, a nutty ice-cream are the signature North Indian desserts. Another specialty from this region is khoya, a thick cream, mainly used in the preparation of sweets.

Tea is the popular drink of North India . Tea from the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong are boiled in milk and water and served with a liberal dose of sugar.