There is a Nepali saying: 'dal bhat power, 24 hour'. It means that this meal gives you the energy to keep going all day. Mountain guides who walk huge distances often eat dal bhat at breakfast and dinner and say it keeps them strong even at high altitude.
The plate it comes on is called a thali. It has small sections for each part of the meal. You mix a little bit of everything onto your rice using your fingers - a bite of vegetable, a sip of dal, a tiny taste of pickle to wake up your tongue.
Most Nepali families eat with their right hand. They wash their hands carefully before and after the meal. Food touched by the hand feels different and is considered part of how you enjoy it - much more direct than a fork.
Dal bhat changes with the seasons. The vegetables come from whatever is growing nearby - spinach in winter, beans in summer, pumpkins in autumn. The dal might be yellow lentils one day, black ones the next. It is the kind of meal that is never quite the same twice.