Local Food Recommended in Mt. Siguniangshan Area

As an AAAA scenic area, Mount Siguniangshan attracts thousands of visitors from home and abroad every year. The tourism facilities and services get a great development in the recent year. Except in the winter, the bad road conditions bring some trouble to the transportation and cold weather may affect restaurant management; visitors can taste different and unique food and dishes in other seasons.

Dishes prepared at the main festival

Where to eat in Mt.Siguniangshan Area

When you arrive at Mt.Siguniangshan Area for your first night, your best choice is to live in Siguniangshan town (Rilong town). Then, where can you have a meal and what kind of food is available there? For breakfast, most of the hotels or hostels offer the breakfast, costing about 10RMB for a person. For lunch and dinner, there are many restaurants which mainly offer Tibetan food, Sichuan food and other dishes cooked with mutton, Yak meat and rabbits. The flavor of the food is mainly salty and hot. The price is about 50-100RMB for a person. Besides those restaurants, you can also choose to eat at the local hostel where food is also available and the price is cheaper, about 20-30RMB for a person.

Food for Trekking and Climbing Mt.Siguniangshan

When you leave Rilong Town and start your climbing or trekking, you need to take some field rations for your journey. There are few restaurants or food stores available during your climbing or trekking trip. So the main food you eat during your trip is the field rations you take. What kind of field rations do you need to take? The high-energy food is better, such as chocolate, milk powder, sugar, instant noodles, cooked yak meat, vegetables, fortified biscuits,etc.

Recommended Local Food

1. Wild Fungi (野生菌)

In the Siguniangshan area, there is various kinds of rare edible wild fungus, such as Matsutake, Morchella, Boletus, Hericium Erinaceus; and other wild fungus like Amanita Caesarer. Visitors can taste these dishes made of wild fungus at Yeshanjunwang Restaurant, Shunfeng Restaurant, Shambhala Restaurant, etc.

Psalliota Arvensis

2. Zanba (糌粑)

Zanba, also named as Tsampa, is a nutritious dollop of roasted barley. It is quite simple to prepare Tsampa. Indeed, it is known as a convenience food and often eaten by the Sherpas, nomads and other travelers. The making process: leave a little buttered tea in the bowl, put a big dollop of barley on top of it, stir gently it with your forefinger until you finish up with a large dumplinglike object. Visitors can taste Zanba in Yeshanjunwang Restaurant.

Zanba is considered as the important part of the Tibetan diet. It derives from the tradition of throwing Zanba in the air during Buddhist rituals, which is believed that Zanba was used as an offering to animistic gods for their protection.

Zanba or Tsampa

3. Butter Tea (酥油茶)

Butter Tea is one of the most typical drinking in Siguniangshan area. It is made from a mix of the yak butter and the Horse Tea (Ya Tea), with high protein and many kinds of AA. It can be used to stimulate one's appetite, refresh oneself, etc.

The traditional process of making is quite complicated and takes a long time.

Butter Tea

4. Yaks' Milk (牦牛奶)

Yaks' milk is a kind of pure natural drink with many kinds of Vitamins and minerals. It is an ingredient of the butter tea that Tibetans consume in large quantities, and is also used in lamps and made into butter sculptures used in religious festivities.

Yaks' Milk

5. Baked Potato (烘土豆)

In the most areas of western Sichuan, the soil is only suitable to plant potato and highland barley, but not other vegetable. In Siguniangshan area, the locals get a harvest of potato every year and they would like to put them on the fire until well-roasted. Baked Potato is also popular in Danba county.

Baked Potato

6. Cordyceps Duck (虫草鸭)

Cordyceps Duck is a typical Sichuan dish. It is cooked by using Cordyceps and tallowy duck, and other seasoners. The Cordyceps is one kind of rare Chinese traditional medicine, which grow in the high-altitude areas in Sichuan-Tibet plateau and Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The dish is very delicious and visitors can taste in Changping Restaurant. It can also cure your ill while building fitness.

Cordyceps Duck

7. Highland Barley Wine (青稞酒)

Highland barley wine is an indispensable drink for Tibetans’ daily life. It also can be used for entertaining guests and celebrating festivals. According to Tibetan custom, the guests will receive a warm welcome with three bowls of highland barley wine. For the first and second cups of wine, guests do not need to drink all of them. But for the third cup, guests have to gulp all the wine in the cup as it shows their respect to the host. When Tibetans toast, they usually sing beautiful song with colorful lyrics.

Highland Barley Wine

8. Roast Whole Lamb (烤全羊)

Captivating golden color, crisp flavored skin and tender tasty meat of a roast whole lamb are all from a charcoal grill of up to 3 hours. If you have enough time, it is really worth a try. While you are having the tasty roast lamb with highland barley wine and butter tea, you can also enjoy the local evening performances. What a special experience.

Roast Whole Lamb

9. Yak Meat (牦牛肉)

Yak is a special kind of livestock belonging to Sichuan-Tibet plateau. The high-altitude, cold and non-polluted living environment make the Yak possess high protein and low fat meat. Besides the delicious dishes made with Yak meat and the dried Yak meat sold in various food stores, the roast beef strings sold by street vendors are also flavorful.

Dried Yak Meat