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Enter the Yak
Saturday, April 16, 2005-11:06 AM
TIBETAN PRIMER: Practical information for first-time visitors to the Himalayan Kingdom
PART 5: TIBETAN CUISINE: The three basic food groups of Tibet-yak milk, yak meat, and tsampa
Tibet's high altitude limits the animals and crops Tibetans can raise to those that can handle the extreme environment.
Enter the Yak.
The yak (or long-haired cow) is ideal for Tibet. It's meat can be stewed, stir-fried, barbecued, dried, and made into yak dumplings (momos).
The yak also provides dairy food. It provides yak milk, yak butter, and yak yoghurt.
Another essential element of Tibetan food is tsampa (barley flour). Tsampa is added to salted butter tea for a quick snack and is also used to make tsampa beer.
Tibet's high altitude restricts the amount of vegetables that can be grown. Therefore vegetables don't play as great a role in the daily diet as they do in other parts of the world.
Tibetan food has nothing in common with Chinese food. Tibetan food is mild whereas certain styles of Chinese food (most notably in Sichuan) are spicy. Tibetan food is not typically eaten with chopsticks or cutlery. Finally, Tibetan food is not shared like Chinese food. One person eats one dish like in the U.S.
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