TIBETAN FOOD

Introduction
Due to the high altitude of Tibet, the water boils at 90 degree Celsius, and cooking with water is impossible. The diet and foods are peculiar in Tibet. The Tibetan diet consists mostly of meat, milks and other high-protein foods. The main staple is `tsamba'. Tea is a necessary.

- Meat

1. Dried Meat
   

In the winter, beef and mutton are cut into long stripes to be air-dried in the circular ground caves or bins walled with stones or dungs. Dried beef and mutton keep better and longer, as the bacteria in them are killed during the drying process in deep winter. Dried meat also packs well. In the next year, the dried meat will be Bar-B-Qed or be eaten raw.

1. Finger Meat
   

Big chucks of fresh meat are boiled in a pot. Salt, ginger, spices are added. The meat is served when it changes colour. People take the meat by hands and cut them with the carried knives. The breasts and spareribs are for the guests. The tails of white sheep are for the guests of honor. If a young man is treated with a tail of white sheep in his girl friend's house, it implies that he can hope.

1. Sausages
   

There are four different sausages in Tibet: blood, meat, flour and liver.

- Dairy
Milk is drunk fresh or made yogurt, or is separated by churning into butter and curds.

1. Butter
   

The Tibetan butter is home-made and can be further processed and refined into butter known elsewhere. Butter is used for food with `tsamba', tea etc., or for the fuel of lamp.

1. Curd
   

After butter is made from milk, the remain becomes sour and can be made curd. Milk curd placed in the mouth and sucked on helps to quench thirst and can be mixed with barley flour to make curd-pastry, a holiday delight.

1. Yogurt
   

The milk is boiled first, after removed from stove, some old yogurt is added. Yogurt will form in a few hours. In the central and western parts, the yogurt is thin and smooth. In the east, it is too thick to stir. Yogurt is mentioned in the famous poem `the story of Gesar', and has been a Tibetan food for more than 1,000 years.

- Staple
The main staple food is `tsamba'. This is made of roasted barley (with husk) ground with a hand mill into very fine flour, which is mixed with a little tea and then rolled into small lumps and eaten with fingers. Butter, curds and sugar add flavour.
`Tubo', a savoury evening gruel made of lumps of wheat flour, tsamba, dried meat and a tuber called `yuangen'.

- Tea
There are three ways to make tea: simple tea, milk tea and butter tea.
The most common tea leaves are produced in the Han Land, as Fu Tea from Hunan, Tou Tea from Yunnnan and Ta Tea from Szechuan. Tibetan tea-drinking forms a special `tea culture'.
Simple tea is boiled tea without any additive.

 - Tibetan Butter Tea \\

Tibetan Butter tea is the indispensable beverage of everyday life for the Tibetan people. It is good for people in many ways: to help keep body warm, allay one's hunger, aid digestion, promote a healthy cardiovascular system, cleanse the body of accumulated lactic acid, and rejuvenate inner strength and increase stamina.
The ingredients of Butter tea are butter, brick tea, and salt. In every Tibetan family, there is a slim wooden cylinder which is used for churning up tea. A wooden piston is used to push and pull inside the cylinder where butter, salt, and freshly-brewed brick tea are mixed. After a minute or two of mixing it is poured into a kettle, so that it can be kept warm over a fire, and be ready for serving at any time.

1. Tea-churning
   

is a daily ritual for Tibetans. They are accustomed to finish several bowlfuls of butter tea before starting to work for a day. Butter tea is also served to guests. Generally speaking, guest cannot decline with thanks but have to drink at least three bowlfuls of butter tea before leaving. In order to show courtesy to ones' host, the tea should be taken slowly and meanwhile tell the host that the tea tastes wonderful. It is customary to leave a little at the bottom of tea cup when finished.

1. Milk tea
   

is also called sweet tea. It is an imitation of English tea and Indian tea. However, tea, milk and sugar are boiled simultaneously, which gives it a distinct flavour. Tibetans like drinking tea very much. Besides salted butter tea, sweet milk tea is another popular alternative, especially at Tibetan wedding feasts. Hot boiling black tea filtered and decanted into a churn, fresh milk and sugar are then added. After about a minute of churning the tea will be ready for serving and a cup of reddish white drink will turn up in front of you.
- Barley Beer
It is made of barley, slightly sour, resembles beer. It is a must in the weddings and the funerals.

Back to top