Did you know that tsampa, flour made from roasted barley, is the staple food of Tibetan people? Or did you know that people rarely it fish in Tibet? Until few months ago, my answer to both questions was no. To tell the truth, not only did I know close to nothing about Tibetan cuisine, but also I had not heard of any restaurant that had Tibetan food. However, my knowledge (or lack thereof) about Tibetan cuisine went through a rather significant change thanks to the three monks in our class. Since we spent a lot of time talking about food and culture, I was able to listen to the interesting stories about Tibetan foods from the people who eat and cook them – much more reliable sources than the Internet. For example, on the first day of class, I learned that momo is a Tibetan dumpling. I also got to know that actually many Tibetan monks eat meat, and that dairy products are an important part of Tibetan cuisine. The more stories about Tibetan cuisine I heard, the more I wanted to try them myself. Yet, it seemed impossible to find a Tibetan restaurant around campus – before the monks told me that an Indian and Nepali restaurant had some Tibetan dishes as well.
Claiming that it was all for the class magazine (although honestly it was a little more for my curiosity), I visited a restaurant named Himalayan Spice with my friend for dinner. As mentioned above, it had Indian, Nepali and Tibetan dishes on its menu. Since it is often said that Tibetan cuisine was influenced by Nepali, Indian as well as Chinese cuisine, it did not seem like the menu was random even though it covered a wide range of different foods. I was even more excited about the restaurant after doing some research since a lot of people recommended its Nepali and Tibetan entrees. It took about ten minutes for us to get there from Emory campus by car. The atmosphere of the restaurant was quiet and calming even though there were a lot of people, and I liked the service as well. We ordered vegetable thukpa and chicken momo. Simply put, vegetable thukpa was a hot noodle soup and chicken momo was, as expected, a steamed dumpling. My first impression about the dishes was that they were spicier than I thought. Also, I could taste more Indian spices than I expected. These two characteristics made my first experience eating Tibetan cuisine so much better.
Even though it was my first time ever to try thukpa and momo, they tasted more familiar than new to me; it tasted like the combination of Indian, Chinese and Korean dishes – all three of which I love. With hot, spicy soup and soft noodle, thukpa warmed me up in the rainy weather of Atlanta. The soup was thick, reminding me of Korean kalguksu, one of my favorite noodle dishes. Noodle soups are something I have been missing a lot since I came to America. (Chicken noodle soup does not have enough noodle!) Chicken momo was something between the new and the familiar. Steamed dumplings are definitely something that can be found easily both here in America and back home in Korea, while the condiments used for the dumpling and the sauces served with it were fairly new to me. The dish was served with sepen, a Tibetan chili sauce, and tomato achar, a savory sauce made with tomato and various condiments including cumin, cilantro and ginger. Since I was used to dipping dumplings into soy sauce, these red and orange sauces seemed unfamiliar at first, but they actually went really well with the momos. Overall, it was a great dinner.
Before I tried the dishes myself, I thought they would be something entirely new to me. I was excited, but it was about trying new foods, not about tasting something I have missed for a while. Who would have thought that I would be able to feel the taste of home by eating Tibetan cuisine? In fact, after dinner, my Korean friend and I could not stop talking about how the dinner made us think of home. I went to try Tibetan foods for the first time, thinking that I would be able to create a new and unique food memory. When I actually tried the foods for the first time in my life, in addition to just eating something new and really delicious, I was able to taste something I have been missing for months and months. Getting to know that there are more tasty dishes in the world and feeling the taste of home at the same time, what could be better?
4 Magazine/April, 2014