Tibetan Dishes-Explore Tibet.

Tibet is not noted for its cuisine. The food tends to be coarse,heavy and rather bland. Rice, wheat and vegetables have become more common as the economic standard lifted but outside Lhasa these are often hard to find. The standard Tibetan dish in restaurants is Thukpa, a noodle and meat soup with a sprinkling of vegetables. Occasionally momo( meat dumpling) and hard boiled eggs can also be found. The chili sauce on the table in most restaurants helps these dishes considerably. In the countryside the staple diet consists of Tsampa( roasted barley flour) butter tea,curd,dried cheese and meat. Local fruit is rarely available. Eating Tsampa can be bit of a challenge. The general technique is to pour a bit of hot buttered tea into your bowl of Tsampa and then kneed the flour into little balls of dough, called Pak. Tibetans learn how to make Pak at an early age, and will probably find it amusing to see you with clumps of flour all over your hands and face.  In the most towns with a Chinese presence you will find restaurant with chinese foods. Reataurants in the towns rarely serve you Tibetan traditional butter tea or Chang,barley beer. The standard drinks are weak sweet tea or cans or bottles of beer. It is rare to find soft drinks outside the large towns but the Chinese ” sports” drink Janlibao is a nice combination of honey and orange soda. In the countryside you will serve the more traditional drinks or plain Chinese tea, It is not advisable to drink the water unless it comes from a spring. Lhasa now stocks a fairly wide range of canned and bottled food from China. Thieve include meats,fish,green vegetables,preserved milk can be purchased quite cheaply. imported fruits and vegetables,nuts and dried fruits are also available in the Lhasa markets. It is a good idea to stock up on these items before you head out to other regions of Tibet.