When it comes to food, everyone will smile. After seeing the beautiful scenery of the plateau, of course you have to try the local food.

Tibetan food: The meat is mainly beef, sheep, chicken, and pig, and the vegetables are potatoes and radishes.

The staple food is mainly rice, noodles and highland barley.

The cooking methods are mainly boiled, fried, cold, steamed and eaten raw.

In order to cater to the tastes of tourists, Tibetan restaurants in Lhasa have improved versions of Tibetan food, not family-style food. For example, the famous Tibetan restaurants: Namasede on Yutuo Road and Pubacang on Danjieling Road are mostly visited by tourists.

What we had was Tibetan hot pot. You may not be used to other dishes. The Zang noodles, steamed buns, sweet tea, and potatoes cooked in various ways on the streets of Lhasa were quite delicious.

Real aboriginal Tibetan food can only be eaten at Tibetan homes.

Eating habits are difficult to regulate, and others may not agree with what you like.

Let me talk about my experience of eating at a Tibetan home. Last year, the Spring Festival happened to be on the same day as the Tibetan New Year. I was fortunate to be a guest at a Tibetan home in Lhasa. The two Tibetan hosts were waiting at the gate early. They walked over with smiles on their faces and shook hands with each other.

Blessings: "Tashi Delek"!

Very polite and polite.

The owner’s courtyard is clean and tidy. There are several five-color prayer flags on the roof. The door is decorated with various Tibetan Buddhist ornaments. When you enter the house, next to the window is a long row of Tibetan sofas covered with carpet cushions and coffee tables.

There are all kinds of refreshments, the floor is covered with Tibetan carpets, opposite the sofa is an offering table with many layers of tributes, a portrait of Hada's 10th Panchen Lama is hung on the wall, and the room smells of Tibetan incense and butter.

After you sit down, the host starts to offer cigarettes and tea. He holds a full cup of butter tea in his hands and offers it to you. The strong smell of butter represents the deep enthusiasm of the Tibetan people. Then he brings over a plate of air-dried yak meat and urges you to eat it.

I took a sip of butter tea. The host then refilled it and said that butter tea can prevent dry lips due to high fever. It was their etiquette. Filling up the cup showed respect. Aftertaste, it tasted salty and a bit tangy, and my lips were thickly wrapped.

Actually, I've had it before, but I never liked the taste. I tried yak jerky again. I ate a small strip and it felt like it was not much different from the mainland beef jerky. Another strip had a little oil on it.

The smell of mutton was so strong that I still couldn't eat it. The glutinous rice cake was pretty good, a bit sweet and a bit choking, but the horse didn't have the smell of mutton.

After tea, we entered the main meal. I was a little worried about whether I could get used to it and whether I could accept the taste. There was a solid wood round table in the owner's dining room. Tibetan homes are all made of solid wood furniture. On the table were blood sausages and tripe.

Peanuts, mashed potatoes, ghee strips, fried fried cakes, bright red beef sauce, hot dishes include stewed yak, mutton, cordyceps chicken, fried lungs, so much to eat, except chicken soup, potatoes, fried cakes, there is basically no other food.

Sorry to bother you, I can't stand the heavy smell of mutton and spices.

Thanks to the host for his warm hospitality, but I can’t enjoy the delicious food myself. This is also a Tibetan meal in Lhasa, and the host is from a very good family. If I go to Ali, where the streets are full of butter smell, it is even more difficult to eat with Tibetans in the Nagqu area.

Habit.

It’s so long-winded, but it’s actually a matter of regional eating habits. Different tastes are naturally not easy to accept. China has many famous ethnic groups and its brilliant food culture is a blessing for our people.

You may not be able to see authentic Tibetan food now, nor may you dare to eat it.

There are different Tibetan meals in different places and occasions, some are simple to eat casually, and some are prepared in a grand way; some are in pastoral areas, at home, and some in restaurants. Tibetan meals are also different in different places and events. With the change of society,

With development, Tibetan food is also changing.

Tibet is located on a plateau, with high air pressure and little oxygen, making it difficult to light a fire. Even if a fire is lit, the boiling point of water is over 70 degrees, making it impossible to cook rice and meat. Tibet has little contact with the outside world, so Tibetan meals are the staple food.

Mainly butter tea, tsampa, raw beef and mutton and highland barley wine.

The smell of butter tea, the "dirtyness" of tsampa, and the insects crawling in the dried beef and mutton, although Tibetan friends are very warm and sincerely hospitable, it is difficult for outsiders to accept it.

In contrast, highland barley wine (made by ordinary people with low alcohol content) is easier to drink. If you like drinking, you will soon become a friend of the Tibetans.

Authentic Tibetan food, no side dishes when drinking.

In the past, transportation in Tibet was very congested, and people only had homemade highland barley wine to drink as tea.

Those who have the means can get high-quality sorghum wine, and there is no side dish when drinking it. It is mostly eaten with candy, fried highland barley grains, fried broad beans, walnuts, red dates, dried peaches and other snacks. These foods are available in most Tibetan homes.

Of course, Tibetans still have to eat tsampa, which is to put fried highland barley flour in a bowl, add butter tea, mix it with your hands, knead it into a ball, and eat it with your hands (those bowls are very good, they are carved from high-quality single wood or made of silver)

, wipe it with clothes after meals and put it in your arms, use it with food).

I have eaten improved Tibetan food. When I was drinking sorghum wine, the host brought out a large pot of steaming boiled mutton. It was cooked with large pieces of dried mutton that Tibetan families always have all year round. The host said, "We don't eat raw beef and mutton."

, tear open the mutton, there is still blood inside, it is better to just drink wine.

There are also exceptions where the owner boils a dozen eggs and drinks them with wine.

Tibetan wedding banquets should be authentic Tibetan meals: drinking without eating vegetables, eating vegetables without drinking, eating endless highland barley wine, and listening to endless toasting songs!

At that time, in the 1970s, before marriage, the bride and groom would put up red notices in their workplaces with their names, inviting colleagues to come.