Tibetan Food and Drink, Local Snack, Staple Food

Food & Drink

Traditional Tibetan food consist mainly barley, meat and dairy products. Vegetables are scarce in the high altitude. Tsampa is the staple food of Tibetan people, which is consumed daily. It is actually barley flour made from parched barley, unhusked and ground into fine flour. Put some flour with salted butter tea in a bowl, rotate the bowl with the left hand and mix the food with your fingers of your right hand, roll it into small lumps, then squeeze it into your mouth with your fingers. Other ingredients may also be added to add flavor. Tibetan people eat Tsampa at every meal and bring it as instant food in travel. The salted butter tea is an indispensable Tsampa pal. Boiled tea is poured into a long cylindrical churn along with salt and yak butter. Vigorous churning makes the ingredients well blended and ready to serve. Tibetan people drink it throughout the whole day. Yak butter is very important food for Tibetan people and it is separated from yak milk by hard churning. After butter is separated from milk, the residue becomes sour and can be made into milk curd which is a nice thirst quenchable and can be made into milk curd pastry with barley flour.

Yoghurt is important daily dairy for Tibetan people. The creamy milk produced by yak cow is superb. Tibetan nomads in the eastern Tibet manufacture their yoghurt in a special process. The milk is boiled first, after removed from stove, some old yogurt is added in. Yogurt will form in a few hours. Yogurt has been a Tibetan food for more than 1,000 years.

Dried beef and mutton stripe is also popular food in Tibet. In the winter, beef and mutton are cut into long stripes and hung in shaded place to be air-dried. The dried meat is crisp and tastes good and can be eaten raw since the chilliness in the winter has killed bacteria during the process.

Big joints of beef and mutton boiled with salt, ginger and spices are also popular food among Tibetans. They take the meat in hands and cut them with their knives. The guests will be treated with breasts and spareribs. If you are treated with a tail of white sheep, it means that you are deemed as their guest of honor.

Blood sausage, meat sausage, flour sausage and liver sausage are also favored by many Tibetans. Other food stuffs include Momo (Tibetan dumplings), Thenthuk (Tibetan noodles) and yak tongue.

Now in Tibet towns, Lhasa for example, Tibetan food is supplemented by Chinese food, mostly Sichuan food. Vegetables and fish become available in market. However, Tibetan people seldom eat fish due to their religion and custom. Restaurants serving Tibetan food, Chinese food and even western food mushroom in the streets to accommodate tourists. Lhasa Hotel (former Holiday Inn)'s restaurant provides Chinese food, Indian food, Nepalese food and western food. Kailash, Tashi, Snowlands, Dunya (former Crazy Yak) and Makye Ame are popular among travelers also in Lhasa. Veggies may still have little choice in short seasons however.

Tibetans like drinking tea. Besides salted butter tea, sweet milk tea is another popular alternative. Hot boiling black tea filtered is decanted into a churn, and then fresh milk and sugar are added. Vigorous churning turns out a light reddish white drink. There are many teashops in Lhasa serving the sweet milk tea. Tibetan barley beer, called Chang in Tibetan is popular among all Tibetans. The beer is mild, slightly sweet and sour and contains little alcohol. The beverage is worth trying. Soft drinks and beer are also available in Lhasa.

Related Link: Tibet Travel Guide

Travelers' Voices on Tibetan Food and Drink

Sep. 23,2009 09:30 Reply

Mr.Richard cloutier(UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) said:

THANKS I'LL KEEP IT IN MIND, AND GOOD LUCK!

Sep. 22,2009 18:17 Reply

Mr.richard cloutier(united states of america) said:

Thank You for the TIBET TRAVEL TIPS.
Helpfull and entertaining.
Readers comments are nice and informa. The spread of input is a plus.
this vehicle to comment is another reason to put a positve flavor to being a tourist.
I will be visiting TIBET in a one on one tour in October 2009 and wish I could spend more time in such an airy realm of this planet. So be it for now, hope to video a lot of thhe natural scenery and the world renown monasteries and temples.
Good luck in your gracious hosting efforts
sincerely, richard cloutier north reading massachusetts U.S.A.

Sep. 22,2009 20:28
Mr.cindy(cn) replied:

Hi, This is the news i found on this website about tibet:
Tibet Travel Permit unavailable from Sept.20 to Oct. 8
Tibet Tourism Administration has suspended the approval of Tibet Travel Permit as of September 20. The temporary regulation willl remain in effective until October 8, the end of National Day celebration, which means foreigners are not allowed to visit Tibet during this period.

Aug. 22,2009 17:35 Reply

Mrs.Schreck(USA) said:

Thank you, lots of good info. I appreciate the effort and clarity.

May. 22,2009 12:43 Reply

Mrs.red(canda) said:

Hey ^^ i think this info is good about the foods they might have. But i need the recipes for these things even thought u have info i still need the recipes. ^^

May. 31,2009 21:07
Mr.cindy(cn) replied:

Hi, Dear Mrs. red
I loves cook too. You can go to the community of this website. There is a section called Chinese food, where you can share your idea and learn the recipe from others.

Cindy

Apr. 29,2009 05:03 Reply

Mrs.mal wieder in bili(deutschland) said:

yes-we think that the information are okey-but the design of the page is very uggly...! please make it more beautiful-then more people will read your infos!
thank you
by-(info about us:we are 2 girl ,14 years ola ,we live in germany and at the moment we have bili-thats a lesson at school...we must search for tibet...!so)
byby

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