Tibetan Food

Tibetan Food is in general quite different. Tibetan Food is originated from nomadic life.

Tibetan Tea

This is to be distinguished from Tibetan yak tea. Yak tea is made from yak butter and cheese while Tibetan tea is a type of black tea originally planeted not in Tibetan regions but another frontier town which is famous for tea plantation, named Ya'an. Ya'an itself is a major termial on this Tea-Horse Road. At the begginning era of the Tea-Horse trade, tea in Ya'an was imported to Kham when Tibetans found them irrestable as a daily drink as the westerners towards coffee. Tibetans in Kham area like this polyphenol drinks as climate in Kham is relatively dry. They like to add some salt in the tea too. Many Tibetans drink as much as over one gallon of tea each day not only to quench but to neutralize the high calorie they've taken.It is also called Brick Tea as the tea was pressed into cubics like bricks for easier transport. Tea was planeted by Han people at first and was used as the equivalence to trade with horses from Tibet. According to some journals, brick tea sometimes is sometimes used as the substitute of local currency when economy was in chaos.

Food

Yaks and muttons are the major sources for meat in Tibet. They don't have too mcuch vegeis. High calorie from meat and dairy help to keep warm and health from the coldness and thin air. The air-dried yak and goat meat are one of the Tibetans favorates. The meat can be eaten either roasted or non-cooked. They hang up the slices of meat in their rooms in late autumn when weather is cold temprature usually drops below zero. After two or three months' natural refrigerating, meat was dried up. It is raw when it is eaten undooked but it acctuallky tastes good.

The Chang (Qingke jiu)

Made of Tibetan barley(hulless oat), the Chang is a major alcohol for Tibetans. It is served on accasions of festival parties, wedding feast, friends gatherings. All Tibetan regions have a tradition of Chang drinking and production across Adom, Kham and Utsang. Chang with alcoholic strength between 40-50 are considered the best. Tibetan barley is planted on land obove 2500 meters and the water used for brewing is from glacier melting water make the Chang quite special. It is widely welcomed along with another two: yak tea and Harda, making it another icon of the Tibetan life.