Tibetan food |
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http://www.qhnews.com ˇˇ
2005-10-11 16:38
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The Tibetans are a hospitable people. A stranger will usually be treated to butter tea or barley wine even if he has just been introduced. And if it is mealtime, he will be piled with butter and zanba, or roasted highland barley.
Tibetan cuisine unlike any other in China is very rich. Take the butter tea. It is prepared from the brick tea of Sichuan or Yunnan, which is brewed until it is very thick. It is then churned thoroughly with butter and salt before it is served. Non-Tibetan may not like the taste at first, but butter tea is a very substantial, healthy food, said to prevent the lips from cracking. Some allege it can even cure altitude sickness. To Tibetans, tea drinking is more important than regular meals. When a believer gives alms to monks, he always provides tea.
The Tibetan staples are neither rice nor steamed buns, but butter and zanba. Because butter is made by hand in the old-fashioned way, it contains many impurities and becomes rancid after a period of storage. Still it preserves part of the protein and vitamins in milk that are needed by man. Zanba, which is roasted highland barley, is rich in vitamins. It is eaten mixed with butter tea and formed into balls. Zanba made from wheat is inferior in taste and flavor to Zanba made from barley.
Barley wine, beef and mutton are the main items served when entertaining guests. Barley wine is low in alcohol content, mellow and appetizing. Beef and mutton are cooked in chunks along with the bones and are eaten with the hands and a knife. Chicken, duck and fish are not served because, according to Lamaism, only ungulates are edible, and their choice of food will become richer as a result of the introduction of the pressure cooker and the greenhouse.
Stay a little longer and you may discover-and be delighted by ¨Cother Tibetan delicacies, such as kase (Tibetan-style doughnuts) eaten during the Tibetan New Year; manilkara zapota, which is cooked with butter; blood sausage, which is made with mutton or beef, blood and spices; and the dried milk. Wind-cured meat is a special favorite of the Tibetans, but most visitors don't give it a try because they consider it unsanitary. As a matter of fact, this meat is generally prepared in winter when flies and germs are inactive. But since parasites can still be found in the meat, this delicacy should be eaten only when roasted. Editem (December 21, 2004)
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