Simtakkan cooks make a popular local version of sapani (a sort of tortilla-like breadstuff) which is often eaten with beans, dipped in sauces, or wrapped around stewed meats. Noodles, sometimes made with bean flour, are made into a kesho dish by the addition of a sauce, usually a very spicy one. As an alternative to kesho, a cook may serve a basic bean dish with sauces. The sauces normally contain a lot of peppers. Locally available meats are usually beef or game, sometimes mutton.

Some modest local wines are produced, but the area is noted for the local takora, a whiskey-like drink, which is often used in mixed drinks; one brand of takora has hot peppers steeped in it and really deserves the name firewater.