The Potala Palace in Lhasa, rebuilt in the
seventeenth century and former residence of the Dalai Lama.
Somewhere over the majestic Himalayas, often called “the Roof of the World”, in
the barren and cold and dry highlands beyond, lays the realm of the Tibetans.
Isolated from the rest of the world for centuries, it was only in the last
decades that travellers were allowed to visit and explore. Still, for most of
us, it remains a land of mystique, magic and temples, of which we know very
little indeed except that it is represented by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who
lives in exile, that Lhasa is its capital and that the Tibetans drink buttered
tea all through the day.
The other day, after I had watched an excellent documentary on BBC television
about the magic land, I looked for my little book on Tibetan food and customs
called “Food in Tibetan Life”. It was sent to me by Alan Davidson, founder of
Prospect Books which published it in 1985. Only Prospect Books, specialising in
publications of this kind, would have touched this most unusual book, written by
another exiled Tibetan by the name of Rinjing Dorje, as it must have very little
commercial value. Very few are interested in the cuisine of people who live on
the dairy products of that great beast, the Dri (female Yak) and take a bath
only once a year on a balmy summer day, if at all. Some of the older Tibetans
believe that bathing washes away the good fortune and why one would do that? A
writer friend of mine even remarked that it must be some of the worst food in
the world but this makes it not less interesting. Although it is not a big book,
it is as far as I know, the only existing work in English on the food, cooking
and family traditions of Tibet.
Cover page of Food in Tibetan Life. Painting by the
author.
Rinjing Dorje, who at the time of publication lived in Seattle, Washington,
working as a bartender, was brought up in a small village in the southern part
of the country and became a cook in a Tibetan monastery when still a young lad.
With these credentials we may assume that he knows what he is talking about. He
also did the illustrations which are artistic and have merit all of their own.
He writes that since the invasion of the Chinese in 1950 which, as I saw on the
BBC documentary, was most brutal, he is afraid that the Tibetan culture is in
danger of being lost to the world.
A woman making tea in a churn. Drawing by the
author.
For this reason he, assisted by his wife Yeshe Dolma, wrote the book as if
everything is still as it was when he was a child. The preface is provided
through the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama thus showing His Holiness’
approval.
Tibet is vast country and according to the author it formerly took four months
of steady walking to cross it by caravan. It features many mountains and valleys
and many different dialects are spoken. People may be divided between the nomads
in the mountains and the farmers in the valleys but there are also craftsmen and
artisans, especially in more cosmopolitan Lhasa, the capital. Foods were
imported from Nepal, India and China, with among them dried fruits, tea (very
important as appears later), spices, corn, sugar, rice and I suppose salt for
the tea but he fails to mention that.
The farmers in the valley cultivate buckwheat, barley, potatoes, radishes and
other hardy vegetables. The latter are mostly sliced and dried for the winter or
to be traded with the nomads. There is one particular herb which aroused my
curiosity which the writer says is in particular demand. It is called “Yartsa
Gumbu”. It is collected in the winter, when there is no wind, so it can be seen
moving as it seems to be a fungus which grows on insects and it will tremble
when the subterranean creatures move.
The staple diet of the Tibetans is “Tsampa”. Toasted barley or other grains like
millet, oats and even soy beans are ground. “Tsampa” can then be eaten in
different ways, mixed with cold water, or one may add it to tea and drink it.
Sometimes it is eaten as a snack, by the handful or used for the cooking of
other dishes.
Buttered tea or “Boeja” is the most important beverage by far and it is drunk
all day. Actually it is more like a soup than the tea we drink. I tried to
recreate it myself and it is not bad at all. Considering the climate on those
highlands one can understand that a “cuppa” in the morning is a necessity. But
Rinjing says that three to five cups in the morning is considered normal and
people say a prayer, offering it to the holy one before drinking it. “Then we
pick up the cup and carefully blow all the butter that is floating on top to one
side. If you save the butter this way, you may put some “Tsampa” in it when you
finish the tea and mix this with the residue butter in the cup.”
Some people drink as much as forty cups a day and he claims that the Tibetans
drink far more tea than the English. In Tibet mostly “Dri” butter is used for
this tea but one can also use other butters of course and people rub butter on
their faces, behind their ears and sometimes on their hands against the cold and
dry weather, which is very hard on the skin.
