Tsampa is a specialty snack in the Tibet Autonomous Region and one of the traditional staple foods of Tibetan herdsmen.

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Zanba is the Tibetan transliteration of fried noodles. When you are a guest at the home of a Tibetan compatriot, the host will definitely bring you fragrant milk tea and tsampa, golden butter and The table is filled with layers of custard "qula" (casein) and sugar.

Tsampa is flour made by washing, drying, frying and grinding highland barley. When eating, mix it with a small amount of butter tea, milk residue, sugar, etc. and knead it into a ball with your hands. It is not only easy to eat, rich in nutrients and high in calories, very suitable for satisfying hunger and keeping out the cold, it is also easy to carry and store.

Tibetans have tsampa (highland barley fried noodles) for three meals a day. The method of making tsampa is to dry and fry highland barley (barley type, white and purple-black), then grind it finely without sieving. The fried noodles made in this way are edible tsampa.

Tsampa is somewhat similar to the fried noodles in northern my country, but the fried noodles in the north are ground first and then fried, while the Tibetan tsampa is fried first and then ground without removing the skin. When eating tsampa, put some butter in a bowl, pour in tea, add some tsampa noodles, and stir evenly with your hands.

Tsampa is more nutritious than winter wheat and is easy to carry. When you go out, you only need to carry a wooden bowl, a leather pocket "Tanggu" (Tsampa pocket) on your waist, and some tea. There is no need to light a fire to cook.

Pour the tsampa into the "Tanggu", then add the butter tea, hold the mouth of the bag with one hand, and grasp the bag with the other hand. After a while, the fragrant tsampa will be ready for your mouth.

When eating tsampa, put some butter in a bowl, pour in tea, add fried noodles, and stir with your hands. When mixing, first use your middle finger to lightly pound the fried noodles into the bottom of the bowl to prevent the tea from overflowing out of the bowl; then rotate the bowl and press the fried noodles into the tea with your fingers close to the edge of the bowl; after the fried noodles, tea and ghee are mixed evenly, you can use your hands Knead it into a ball and you can eat it.

When eating, keep stirring in the bowl with your hands, knead it into a ball, and put it into your mouth with your hands. Tibetan people generally do not use chopsticks or spoons to eat, but only use their hands to eat.

Because tsampa is simple to eat and easy to carry, it is very suitable for nomadic life. Herdsmen always hang a tsampa bag around their waist when they go on a long journey. When they are hungry, they grab a handful of tsampa from the pocket and eat it. Sometimes, they take out a wooden bowl from their arms, put some tsampa in it, pour some butter tea, add some salt, stir it a few times, grab it and eat it. Sometimes, I eat tsampa and drink butter tea.