What this solves
"Tibetan food" is a useful category until you sit in a Litang kitchen and the host looks offended when you ask for salt. Salt vs. droma (sour cream) butter tea, fried vs. steamed momo, light barley beer vs. fermented-thick chang — these are not minor; they mark villages from each other. Order wrong, you look touristy and naive. Refuse wrong, you insult the kitchen. This tool pulls the regional differences into one comparison table and gives you the standard refusal phrase.
Pick a food — see how each region makes it
How to read the result
Daocheng sits at the eastern edge of Kham — relatively more Han Chinese influence, smaller villages, lighter Tibetan food, more Sichuan dishes on menus than Litang or Batang.
Litang is the Kham cultural heart — strong pastoral tradition, salt rather than droma in butter tea, the highest barley-beer consumption per capita in Sichuan, and a famous horse-racing festival.
Batang (and the lower Jinsha River valley) sits in southern Kham — bigger momos, more hot peppers, more droma, and chang that's closer to honey than beer. Slightly more diverse Han / Tibetan / Naxi overlap.
The note column is the practical tell — what to say, what to expect, and what signals you're wrong.
Limitations
FAQ
A: Yes — most trekkers pack noodle packets and instant coffee. Just don't offer them to a Tibetan host as a substitute for hospitality; if you're invited to a meal, eat what they serve.
A: Almost always yak butter. It's much fattier than cow butter (15–20% vs ~4%) and has a distinct aroma. If you're dairy-sensitive, the "no dairy" polite refusal is "lho drogs" — "stomach doesn't take".
A: At altitude, no one expects you to drink much. Take one sip, hold it for 5 seconds, and place the cup on the table saying "gyu tog" — "my body [can't take it]". They will pour you tea instead.
A: Almost none. Pastoral Tibetan households serve meat at nearly every meal. If you're vegetarian, eat your protein-rich snacks before visiting; tsampa + butter + cheese will keep you going.