Due to its special geographic position, the landscape in Tibet is nothing similar to the rest of the country, and its culture is also different from the mainstream culture of China.
Have a travel to Tibet and embark on an entirely new experience of China travel.
What to eat is always a big concern of our trip planning. Want to know what to eat and drink in Tibet? Check them out!
The Characteristics of Tibet Cuisine
Tibet is a land of contrasts with rough terrain and a harsh climate which have affected the development of the region’s peculiar and scarce cuisine, which is based primarily on toasted barley flour, wheat flour as well as mutton and beef.
Tibetan food shows a major influence of Indian and Chinese methods of cooking
Traditional Tibetan food includes tsamba (roasted highland barley flour), thukpa, butter tea, Tibetan sausages, yak jerky, momo, and milk tea.
Tsamba
Tsamba, the staple food of Tibetan people, is a kind of dough made with roasted highland barley flour and yak butter with water. Method of making: grind the roasted Highland Barley into flour, and mix it with ghee. It is similar to parching wheat flour in northern China. People in northern China grind the wheat into flour before parching it, but Tibetan people do the opposite. They roast the barley seeds before grinding them into flour. What’s more, Tibetan people do not remove the husk of the barley.
When eating Tsamba, Tibetan people put some ghee in a bowl, pour some boiled water into the bowl, then put some roasted flour into the water, and mix them with one hand. When mixing the tea, they press the flour slightly against the edge of the bowl with their fingers to avoid spilling the tea. After mixing all the roasted flour, the tea and the ghee until the thing gets thick, people knead it into dough balls and eat them.
The Tibetan people often bring barley flour with them in small leather bags when they leave home to do business.
Thukpa
Thukpa is a noodle soup typically eaten for lunch or dinner. It includes thick noodles, boiled spinach, and bits of mutton, pork, or yak beef. One popular version of this soup, called Tenthuk, uses small chunks of pasta made from pulled noodles. A large bowl of this warm, filling noodle soup is tasty on a cold night.
Tibetan sausages 
Sausage was early from more than 1000 years a ago. It is a food created by nomad. The main method is to prime different materials into the fresh animal guts such as sheep, pig or cow.
The Tibetan sausages can be either steamed or roasted and then cut into slices to eat. Tibetans usually make this food in batches during new-year time. The Tibetan sausage taste fresh and goluptious and not oily, which is a nice cold dish. Then it can be stored for about one year.
butter tea
Butter tea is made by mixing brick tea, ghee and salt together. Ghee, which looks like butter, is a kind of dairy product of fat abstracted from cow milk or sheep milk. Tibetan people like the ghee made of yak milk. When they make buttered tea, they mix boiled brick tea and ghee in a special can, add some salt, pour the mixed liquid into a pottery or metal teapot and finally heat up the buttered tea (but not boil it).
According to the Tibetan custom, Tibetan people drink butter tea in separate sips and the host refills the bowl to the brim after each sip. Thus, the guest never drains his bowl because it is constantly topped up. If the visitor does not wish to drink, the best thing for him to do is to leave the tea untouched until the time comes to leave and then drain the bowl. In this way etiquette is observed and the host will not be offended.
Yak Jerky
Tibetans eat a lot of meat, including yak beef, mutton, and pork. Traditionally, the meat is dried and preserved. It is then cut up and tossed into stews or eaten straight off the bone. Don’t be surprised if nomads invite you into their tent, hand you a knife and give you a big bowl of dried yak meat still on the bone!
Dumplings
Dumplings, called momos in Tibet, are every Tibetan’s favorite food. Momos are typically made on special occasions, and family and friends pitch in to make them together. Momos can easily be found at most restaurants, and there are many kinds, including potato momos, mutton momos, veg momos, and others. Tibetans dip the momos into spicy chili paste for added flavor, and wash it down with soup broth.
Milk Tea
Tibetans in central Tibet enjoy drinking sweet milk tea, known as ja ngarmo. The sweet tea is similar to British milk tea, and many visitors to Tibet enjoy the drink. However, Tibetans in the eastern regions of Amdo and Kham prefer plain milk tea or salty milk tea.
Lhasa, Tibetan capital, is the best destination of your China tours. Tibetan cuisine is not renowned for its spices and variety, but it is hearty and healthy and sustains those living on the high plateau. Its exotic flavor is good enough reason for you to try out, which for sure, is going to be a new experience for your taste buds.
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