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Lhasa Food and Restaurants
Lhasa's catering business is developing. Besides the Tibetan diet, other national styles of cooking including Chinese, Indian, Nepalese and Western food can all be enjoyed. Tibetan food, Sichuan cuisine, and Northern wheaten foods are most typical. The Tibetan diet is mainly made up of beef and mutton. Don't eat too much the first time to avoid dyspepsia. If you are not used to butter tea, you can often drink sweet milk tea as an alternative. Highland barley wine is not strong, but too much will nevertheless result in deep sleep. It is recommended to eat garlic with some dishes, such as raw meat pulp. In some small restaurants, a dish and a soup cost about 10 yuan. Northwest China’s hand-pulled noodles are rather cheap, as is nourishing Thenthuk (Tibetan noodles) with bone soup at only 4 yuan.
Qingke
Qingke (highland barley) is the main ingredient of tsampa. Tsampa is barley flour, made from parched barley, un-husked and ground into fine flour, and then eaten with butter. People also make tsampa by mixing qingke flour and peas. Tsampa made from qingke is a Tibetan traditional food, served in most restaurants of Lhasa to give visitors from all over the world a taste of Tibet. At religious festivals, Tibetans will sprinkle tsampa as a sign of blessing.
Beef and Mutton
Tibetans mainly live on beef, mutton and milk products. In pastoral areas, people don't eat vegetables. In these areas, which includes most of Tibet, the diet is monotonous and rich in fat and protein. Beef and mutton are rich in calories, which helps people living on the Roof of the World to keep warm. Tibetans have a custom of eating raw meat. If you go to a herdsman's or a farmer's home, you will see the air-dried beef and mutton hung inside the house or tents. The host will invariably treat you to such meat, which can only be tasted on the Plateau of Tibet.
Mashed Yak Meat
Tibetan medicines are mysterious. Mashed yak meat is a mixture of some Tibetan medicine and mashed raw beef (yak meat). Blood red and pungent, you will feel hot inside after eating it. It is said that Tibet is a place where time can stop still. People today still like to enjoy the sunshine at the foot of the Potala Palace after such a good meal, feeling rather satisfied.
