There is a fish made of milk in the northern Tibetan pastoral area ▎ Lala
The Lala hanging in front of the Tibetan woman
Image source: kinbykin
Tibetan snack: Lala
At the "First Tibet Autonomous Region Folk Dance Competition" two years ago, the dance "Lala · Road to Prosperity" performed by the Damxung County Art Troupe of Lhasa City took first place with a score of 9.88. This dance beautifully presented the daily life of local herders making "Lala" in an extremely artistic form. In this year's Spring Festival Gala, "Lala" was also introduced to the new-generation actor Hou Minghao by the host as a Tibetan delicacy.
a fish made of milk
"Lala", transliterated from the Tibetan "ལ་ལ།", is a dairy product produced in pastoral areas such as Nagqu and Chamdo in Tibet, and is one of the favorite daily snacks among Tibetan people. The name "Lala" is not standard written language, so its meaning is not clearly defined. Currently, the most authoritative (and seemingly the only) explanation in academia comes from Mr. Karma Gongja's book "Northern Tibetan Dairy Culture". The book states: "Although the word sounds like Chinese... inquiries with local elders reveal that the word has existed since ancient times and is not a loanword from Chinese. They believe the term may be similar to 'Kharlalagyishig (ཁར་ལ་ལ་གྱིས་ཤིག)' in the spoken language of Nagqu herders, referring to a hard food that can be held in the mouth. Through my investigation of the local dialect, I found that 'La' (ལ།) functions as a verb indicating action, for example: 'Please help make a piece of cheese' would be expressed as 'Chuwa shig la rog (ཕྱུ་བ་ཞིག་ལ་རོགས།)'. Additionally, people also refer to it as 'Ola' (འོ་ལ།, dairy-based). Whether it is named after its production method is a topic for experts to discuss."
Lala
Image source: Internet
The "Nagqu Regional Chronicles" mentions another name for Lala—"milk fish," which in Tibetan is "E Nie" (འོ་ཉ།). According to clues provided by Teacher Kaying from Nagqu, the term "E Nie" also appears to have emerged very early. It is widely used in various counties and pastoral areas of Nagqu, while "Lala" is more commonly used within Nagqu city. The term "E Nie" is clearly named after the strip-like, ribbon-shaped appearance of Lala.
Northern Tibetan pastoral area
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Complex, yet simple
The process of making Lala is not overly complicated. Although there are slight variations in methods across different regions, the overall steps generally follow these stages: heating yak milk — adding a small amount of sour water — shaking it continuously to coagulate — kneading and stretching it into strips — drying. However, the entire process is not simple either. Details such as the heat control during heating, the amount of sour water added, and the force used during stretching all affect the texture of Lala. For example, if too much sour water is added, the taste becomes sour, resulting in the lowest quality Lala. If too little sour water is used, Lala will be difficult to form and stretch.
Lala
Image source: Zhimei
The best Lala
In the 2013 "Fourth Batch of Autonomous Region-Level Intangible Cultural Heritage List," the "Lala Cheese Making Technique" from Nyainrong County, Nagqu, was prominently included. This recognition was granted not only because the county has a unique method of making Lala but also because the local Lala is produced using yak milk from which butter has not been extracted.
Although all Lala is made from yak milk, there are still distinctions in quality. The best Lala is made from milk that has not undergone butter extraction. The reason is as follows: Butter, known as "tsema" in Tibetan, is the milk fat extracted by Tibetans through repeatedly churning fresh yak milk. Milk that has had its fat extracted clearly loses most of its essential nutrients, whereas Lala made from yak milk that has not been churned for butter is considered the "essence of the essence."
A herding woman milking a cow
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Tibet's Lala & Dali's Rushan
Coincidentally, the Bai people in the Dali and Eryuan areas of Yunnan Province are equally enthusiastic about a dairy product that is almost identical to Tibet's Lala. It has a very pleasant name: Rushan (also known as Ruxian). This naming method is also very similar to Nagqu's "milk fish." Additionally, apart from the stretching technique and the final shape it forms, the production process of Rushan is highly similar to that of Lala. According to the Qing Dynasty "Dengchuan Zhou Zhi": "Rushan is made by heating a cup of cow's milk in a pot, adding acidic juice, and gently stirring with two round chopsticks until it gradually forms a pancake. It is then picked up and spread by hand, rolled alternately with two chopsticks, laid on a bamboo rack to form sheets, and dried. The color is fine white, like thin paper." This process can be succinctly summarized as: heating milk — adding acidic water — stirring and shaking — stretching — drying. However, unlike Lala, Rushan has a longer and clearer documentation in historical texts. Yang Shen, a Ming Dynasty literatus from 500 years ago, wrote in his "Yunnan Moon Festival": "Crisp flowers and Rushan float in the cup, green."
Rushan
Image source: Internet
The most basic ways to eat Lala are raw or soaked in tea. This method of consumption also applies to Rushan. In the Bai people's unique Three-Course Tea, known for being "bitter first, sweet second, and lingering third," Rushan is an important ingredient in the second course of sweet tea. Beyond eating raw or steeping in tea, unlike Tibet's Lala, Rushan has an additional method of consumption: grilling.
A herding woman offering tea to a monk
Image source: Matthieu Ricard
Lala can be used to make pizza
Even more interestingly, in a paper titled "Research on the Processing Technology of Tibetan Yak Milk Lala," the author compared and analyzed Lala alongside Italy's Pasta Filata cheese. The study concluded that Lala, produced in Northern Tibet, as a typical acid-coagulated stretched cheese (according to coagulation processes, stretched cheeses can be divided into enzyme-coagulated and acid-coagulated types), could even become the preferred green, pollution-free, and high-end cheese product for Western foods such as pizza. Moreover, it "has the characteristics of very short processing time, simple technology, low technical requirements, low cost, and high yield compared to foreign enzyme-coagulated stretched cheeses."
Northern Tibetan pastoral area
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Thus, the author believes that with the rising demand for cheese in China's dairy market, Tibet's Lala also holds market potential. After all, up to now, Lala has undoubtedly become one of the economic sources for many Tibetan herder families, particularly in Northern Tibet. Unfortunately, the production of Lala in Tibet remains at the traditional workshop stage. Shortcomings such as "low production efficiency, small output, and failure to achieve scale or industrial production" are evident. Therefore, the traditional production and processing techniques of Lala also seem urgently needed.
A herder in front of a milk bucket
Image source: pinterest
References:
"Research on the Processing Technology of Tibetan Yak Milk Lala"
"Annals of Nagqu Prefecture"
Karma Gongja: "Dairy Culture in Northern Tibet"
