Tibetan food served in the A Ji Chong Tibetan Café in Beijing.

Tibetan food shows a major influence of Indian and Chinese cooking methods but the ingredients used are mainly from the mountain areas. The food that one gets in mountain area is deliciously different and is known for its exotic flavour. Well, that is good enough reason for you to try out Tibetan food, which for sure, is going to be a new experience for your taste buds.

Is non-vegetarian food part of Tibetan cuisine? 

Non vegetarian food occupies the major part of Tibetan cuisine. Dried beef and mutton stripe is the most favorite food in Tibet. In the winter, beef and mutton are cut into long stripes and hung in shaded place to be air-dried. The dried meat is crisp and tastes good and can be eaten raw as the chill in the winter air kills all the bacteria during the process.

Big joints of beef and mutton boiled with salt, ginger and spices are also popular food among Tibetans. They take the meat in hands and cut them with their knives. The guests are catered with breasts and spareribs. Don't be surprised if you are served a tail of white sheep, it means that you are deemed as their guest of honor.

Barley porridge. With the mutton chops，a barley porridge mixed of carrots chops, cream and other ingredients is a perfect side dish.

Blood sausage, meat sausage, flour sausage and liver sausage are also eaten on a regular basis by many Tibetans. Other food specialties include Momo (Tibetan dumplings), Thenthuk (Tibetan noodles) and yak tongue. In Tibet towns, Tibetan food is complimented by Chinese food, generally Sichuan food. The main difference that you will feel in Tibet will be the absence of fish foods because Tibetan people very rarely eat fish due to the custom.

Know more about Tibetan cuisine  

Tibet Cuisine offers exotic flavor, completely different from anything that you have tasted till now. Although completely uninhibited by western cuisine, the food here shows a strong similarity to that in India and China. But that does not take out the uniqueness of Tibet cuisine. Right from dairy products to non-vegetarian dishes, Tibet offers mouth watering delicacies for its visitors in the many famous restaurants like Sichuan cuisine restaurant, Xueshengong Tibetan Restaurant, Jiri Fengniu Tibetan Restaurant and Shigatse Jinzuo Restaurant.