Caterpillar fungus are known as yartsa gunbu (དབྱར་རྩྭ་དགུན་འབུ།) in Tibet—yartsa means summer grass, gunbu means winter worm. In Chinese it’s called “chongcao” or “dong chong xia cao” which also translates to “summer grass winter worm.” It’s a rare herb found in Tibet and other Himalayan regions and only grows above an altitude of 4000 meters. The fungus is highly valued for its purported medicinal benefits, for instance, as a treatment for cancer and aging, high blood pressure, as a libido booster and as an immune system booster. This is why the fungus is so popular among Han Chinese people in mainland China, and even in some western countries. Demand for the fungus has soared.
Caterpillar Fungus (Yartsa Gunbu)
May and June are the harvest season for caterpillar fungus. Tibetan Nomadic yak herders and farmers leave their home and set up tents near the mountains for the harvest. They collect the caterpillar larvae with its parasitic fungus whole from the ground. This highly prized medicinal fungus has mostly been traded to China for centuries. During the short harvest period a prolific harvester can earn more than enough cash to live on for an entire year. In the last few decades harvesting caterpillar fungus has developed into the main source of income for rural Tibetans.
people are looking for Caterpillar Fungus (Yartsa Gunbu)
Every spring business traders from China travel to Tibet to collect caterpillar fungus from local people. The Chinese grind up the fungus and sell it as a powder, use it whole as a garnish, cook it with soup and drink it with tea. It costs 30-70 RMB for a single caterpillar fungus, though it also depends on where and who you buy from. It’s cheaper if you buy from local Tibetans and more expensive if you buy from shops in mainland China, due to the processing and packaging. It’s better to get local people’s help if you want to purchase some because there are fakes in the market.
Tsampa ( Barley) (རྩམ་པ། ) is one of the main cuisines in Tibet. Tibetan crops must be able to grow in the high altitudes of Tibet. The most important crop in Tibet is barley. Flour milled from roasted barley, called Tsampa, has been the staple of Tibetan food for centuries. This cereal is an integral part of Tibetan people’s life. Most of Tibetan people grow up by eating Tsampa. If you get the chance to visit Tibet, you must try the taste of Tsampa!
Tsampa ( Barely ) Products
Barley wine/ Beer
We call barley wine “chang” in Tibetan. Tibetan barley wine is brewed from fermented barley grown in the highlands. Some wine is mild, sweet and it has little alcohol. Some wine is very strong. Each glass Tibetan Chang is different from another due to the brewing method and duration. It is the most popular alcoholic drink in Tibet. You can easily get it in any Tibetan area.
Barley Beer
Tsampa ( Barley )Making Process
We have to choose a sunny day to wash and dry the barley
Once it is mostly dry, it is ready to roast
Heat the sand on the hot stove
Pour some barley on top of the heated sand and roast the barley, shaking it together with the sand in a big pan
Put the barley and sand to the sifting pan to sift out the sand
Finally, grind the roasted barely into Tsmapa flour
It’s ready to make the roasted barely into Tsampa flour
How Tibetans drink/eat Tsampa ( Barley ) soup and bread?
Prepare the butter, dry cheese, sugar and tea
Put the butter and cheese in a bowel
Pour the tea in the bowel and let the butter melt and the cheese to become soft
Drink the tea until you have space to add the Tsampa
You can either make Tsampa soup with a spoon or make Tsampa bread with your hand. You can put sugar in it if you want it to be
Momos ( ཤ་མོག) are seen as one of the most quintessential Tibetan foods, and travellers love to enjoy them. Often described as “Tibetan dumplings”, most see momos as a basic home cooked meal and it is often a family affair to prepare them. Whether you like to dip, dunk, bite, or swallow them whole, your trip to Tibet wouldn’t be complete without trying a few along the way.
What’s in Momo?
With a dough made of flour and water, the skins of the momo are very basic, but it is the numerous fillings that add variety to this dish. While the traditional filling is yak meat, other fillings may include potato, green onion, cabbage, or mushrooms, etc. They are typically served with some sort of spiced oil or a flavoured seasoning salt for dipping, and each sauce will be slightly different based on the chef’s individual preparations.
The momo is made by rolling out the dough into thin circles, and then placing a small amount of filling in the center. Once the filling is centered on the skin, there is a technique to folding and twisting the dough to keep the momo shut (and to lock in the filling’s natural juices). Finally, the momos are cooked in a steamer until the outside is no longer sticky to the touch.
Tibetan Yak Meat Momos ( Tibetan Dumplings)
Size of a Momo
The size of a momo also varies, with large momos typically filling one’s entire hand and the smaller able to be consumed in one bite. As the smaller momos are fiddlier and take more time to prepare, these tend to be reserved for fancier affairs such as special occasions or to be served in restaurants. With the large momos, these are more commonly served at home as the average person would find one or two to be enough for a meal. The larger size cuts down on the time necessary to prepare them as less are required to make a meal.
Eating Momo
There is a bit of a technique involved in eating a momo. While you may use your chopsticks, Tibetans traditionally eat these with their hands, so go right ahead and pick it up between your thumb and forefingers.
Once you have your momo ready to eat, be warned, the good momos have juice inside them! Carefully take a bite of the momo, and as you do, suck the juice into your mouth to get the full flavours of the filling. When biting into your momo, take care not to shoot juice across at your dining companion, as sometimes these things can surprise you (but hey, we’ve all done it a time or two)!
I find there is a sweet spot for enjoying momos where the juices aren’t so piping hot they will burn your mouth, and they haven’t yet gone cold. Although cold momos aren’t bad, if you are eating yak meat momos, I would particularly recommend eating them while they are still warm, as the juices start to harden as they cool. Wait until the steam stops coming off of the momos, and then eat until your heart is content!
Probably the most quintessential Tibetan food. Visitors to Tibet either love it or hate it. If you’ve been to 10 different places in Tibet, you have likely had 10 different varieties. In Shangri-la, peanuts are ground into the tea. In Danba, they put walnuts in it. Some yak butter teas are very bland. Some are very salty. Tsampa may be added to some versions to make it a bit thicker. So if you didn’t like Yak Butter Tea (འོ་ཇ།) the first nine times, try it again. All varieties of Yak butter tea have the following five ingredients in common: black tea, water, milk, salt, and butter.
Getting Fresher
Some varieties of Yak butter tea use slightly rancid butter. This is usually because of a lack of supplies or bad refrigeration. As the standard of living has risen in Tibet, rancid yak butter tea has become much less common. As Yak butter tea has gotten fresher, demand for it among non-Tibetans has risen dramatically. Tibetan tea shops are popping up by the dozens. We usually tell visitors, “don’t think hot drink; think soup.” That usually sets expectations more properly and goes a long way to help initiates enjoy their first experience.
A Tibetan woman makes Yak Butter Tea the old-fashioned way.
A Meal in itself
Yak butter tea is the most common drink on the plateau. Some nomads drink more than 30 cups a day. Its rich, salty content provides warmth, fats, protein and a bit of caffeine to provide abundant energy for the harsh Tibetan climate. In Tibet, it’s not uncommon to see snow in summer. And winters can get to 20 to 30 degrees below zero (celsius). The butter in the tea also helps Tibetans fight chapped lips.
Heartwarming, too
Yak butter tea conjures up the same warm fuzzies for Tibetans that “hot chocolate” does for Americans or “Chai” for Indians. Yak butter tea has received some popularity in recent years, as the inventor of Bullet Coffee (which is a blend of natural butter and coconut oil in coffee) credited his idea to this traditional Tibetan beverage. If you try a cup of Tibetan yak butter tea on your next trip to Tibet, give it at least five tries before you make your final judgment. As an American having traveled extensively in Tibet, I can honestly say there is no other drink I prefer more when I’m on the plateau. And when I’m elsewhere, I’m still happy with my hot chocolate.
