Hui Cuisine

The Hui minority likes to eat ruminant animals' meat and vegetarian animals and poultry which must be butchered by Muslim priest, called Ahong in Chinese. Meat of pig, mule, horse and donkey and blood are all taboos to them.
The Hui Minority's famous cuisine includes steamed lamb, lamb eaten with hands, fried beef, grilled mutton kebab, deep-fried food and so on. The Hui cuisine enjoys high reputation in China for its deliciousness. Usually, Hui minority will add Sanxian soup (soup extracted out of beef, mutton and chicken) into their food.
Hui Cuisine, called Qingzhen (pure and true), can be found almost in every city in China.

Tibetan Cuisine

Tibetan cuisine is divided into two types: those of the pastoral and farming areas. The pastoral nomads basically consume meat and milk. Mutton and other types of meat, sometimes dried, are eaten in winter, while yogurt and cheese in summer. These foods are rich in protein and calories, but greasy. Green tea usually accompanies Tibetan meals. The farming population is fond of Zamba (roasted Qingke barley flour), Qingke wine, pork and potatoes.

Tibetans have mild palates. Salt, garlic and green Chinese onion are the only seasonings they use. Of course, if guests like spicy food, the versatile Tibetan chefs can satisfy their appetites.

There are more than 60 varieties of typical Tibetan dishes, such as rice with milk and meat dumplings in sparerib soup. Tibetan snacks include yak blood cubes, which are made by the following procedures. Draw 0.25 kg of blood from the veins of a yak, then pour it into a pan and boil it on a slow fire until the blood solidifies, cut it into cubes, pour hot butter on them and then add white sugar.

Lhasa has more than 100 Tibetan-style restaurants, with painted wooden tables, iron stoves, and porcelain bowls and religious statues. Tourists can choose from a variety of sausages, Zamba, beef or mutton eaten with the fingers, cold yak tongues dressed with sauce, noodles, buttered tea, sweet tea and milk tea.

Visitors to Tibetan homes should pay attention to the methods of drinking various beverages. When drinking buttered tea, wait until the tea cools, then blow the surface oil away and sip the tea with the lips fairly closed together. If you want more, leave some tea in the bowl. If you drain the bowl, it is a sign that you have had enough. When drinking Qingke wine, keep the body straight, hold the cup with both hands, look straight ahead and listen as the host sings a song. After the song, you say a few polite words, hold the cup in the right hand, dip the third finger of the left hand into the wine three times and flip three drops of wine into the air as offerings to Buddha, and then toss off the remainder of the wine. If the host asks you to drink a cup in three gulps, you sip twice, but drain the cup the third time. If you do not want any more, after flipping three drops of wine in the air, just taste your finger and the host will understand. If the guest feels uncomfortable or unable to drink much, he or she should explain it to the host. The lack of oxygen on the lofty Tibetan Plateau makes it inadvisable to overindulge in alcoholic drinks.