The food and drink in Tibet is very much like the people themselves - unique and with a very distinct character. While some of the food on offer in the region may not be to everyone’s liking, it is a good idea to try it while you are there, as there are some very tasty dishes, and the cuisine makes for a very good diet in this high-altitude region. It is also a great way to learn more about Tibetan culture, and there is no better way to get to know someone than by breaking bread with them.
Tsampa
Made from roasted barley, tsampa is the main staple of every Tibetan’s diet. Eaten with every meal, and even made and taken on trips as a snack, it is dough made from roasted barley flour that is mixed with some butter tea, and formed into balls before being eaten. While not especially tasty, the mild taste of the tea in the salty dough makes for a simple, yet filling snack.
Beef and Mutton
High-protein meats are essential for keeping out the cold in the high altitudes of Tibet. Beef, or more correctly yak meat, is the most popular meat eaten by Tibetans, and mutton, the meat of an adult sheep, is another main ingredient in their diet. While many boil the meats with salt, spices, and ginger, a few will take the most tender cuts from the freshly killed yak carcass and eat it raw. Strips of dried beef and mutton are also popular in the region, and this local form of jerky or biltong is becoming a popular snack with tourists. While the meat can be a little hard to chew, the salty taste is delicious, and the dried meats are easier to store when you do not have a refrigerator handy, such as in nomadic settlements and on long trips.
Tibetan Noodle (Thenthuk or Thukpa)
Tibetan noodles, also known as thenthuk or thukpa, are normally served with simple vegetables, diced beef, chopped scallions cooked in a pot together. In some of the larger cities, Tibetans will eat noodles with tea for breakfast, and noodle soup with shallots is an enjoyable meal, especially when eaten with tsampa.
Milk Curd and Yogurt
Living on a plateau where the main herds are yak or sheep results in Tibetans eating the produce of those animals in large quantities. Tibetans eat all kinds of dairy products that are also eaten in the west, and maybe a few that are not. Ghee, a form of butter made from milk, is used in much of the Tibetan foods, and they are huge lovers of yogurt and milk curd, the local form of cheese.
Tibetan yogurt
Milk curd is the sediment from the boiled milk, which has a sour taste and is eaten as a snack or used to make bread. It can also be fried, although it gets hard once cooked, and is often taken when traveling to another place as a staple food.
Tibetan yogurt is a must-eat thing for local people, and is so popular that they even have a Yogurt Festival every year, known as the Shoton Festival, one of the region’s most important annual festivities. It has a milder, mellower taste than western yogurt, and is very creamy. Part of the Tibetan diet for over a thousand years, this delicious yogurt will surprise you with its taste.
Tibetan Sausages
With all that beef and mutton, it is no wonder Tibetans make great sausages. There are dozens of types of sausage in Tibet, including meat sausages, blood sausages, liver sausages, white sausages, flour sausages, and lung sausages. Tibetans are very fond of sausages, and the blood sausage and white sausage are the two most popular. These are very similar to the black pudding and hogs pudding (those are both sausages) that are eaten in the United Kingdom.
Momo
Momo are Tibetan dumplings made from either meat or vegetables. Half-moon shaped, they can be steamed or fried, and are normally served with a chili sauce. Momo are eaten all over Tibet, as well as Nepal, India (where they are called “samosa”), Japan (gioza), and many other South Asian countries, often with different names.
Momo as Tibetan dumplings
These are only some of the foods available throughout Tibet, and as you travel from one area to another, you can find many localized dishes that are very popular, which you should try. For vegetarians traveling to Tibet, there may be a little problem eating many of the local dishes. While Tibetans do try to eat as much vegetable foods as possible, the harsh environment makes it almost impossible for most to grow, meaning they have to be imported, and are expensive. And in the off-peak season, when it is colder, western areas of Tibet may not have any vegetables at all.
Butter Tea
Butter tea is normally served to guests in small bowls instead of cups, and it is the must-drink while you are in Tibet. Tibetans drink tea all day long, and it is another staple of the Tibetan diet. It is simple to make, just by adding strong tea leaves to the boiled water, and then adding ghee and salt. It is drunk to keep people warm in the cold, plateau climate, and is often accompanied by tsampa (made with the tea they are drinking).
Yak butter tea
The tea is also useful to stop lips getting cracked in the bitingly cold wind, and can help a little with altitude sickness. However, as much as it is drunk everywhere by everyone, all the time, there are some rules to drinking tea in company in Tibet. When drinking tea in a Tibetan home, as you drink down the bowl, the minute you take it away from your lips the host will rush to fill it up. Do not rush to drink it, and chat with your hosts first, before sipping it slowly when the host comes in front of you looking to see if you need a refill. Ideally, to be properly polite to your hosts, you should only finish your tea when you are ready to leave.
One thing that is important about butter tea is that it is not “yak” butter tea, a mistake that is common among tourists. The yak is the male of the species, while the dri is the name given to the female. So, ideally, it should be called “dri” butter tea.
Tibetan Sweet Tea (Tibetan Milk Tea)
Tibetan sweet tea is another popular drink, and some will say that it is the “blood of Lhasa”, from which you can see how important tea is in Tibetan lives. Very different from the butter tea, the sweet tea has a more pleasant taste to western tourists, and it is enjoyed a lot by them in Lhasa tea houses. Made by simply boiling brick tea in water with added sugar, strangely it only tastes aas good when it is a Tibetan making it. Add a little milk to taste, and the tea is ready. There are many tea houses in Lhasa, which have become popular haunts for tourists and Tibetans alike.
