In Tibet, when it’s hot outside there’s no reaching for a cool drink: hot tea is always the answer. Stripping down isn’t advisable either. Yeshi made a video call to his mother in Tibet yesterday. He was sat shirtless in the garden. “Wrap up,” she said, “you’ll get sick!”
Tibetan medicine teaches that all living beings are made up of energy, and that there are three primary energy types: loong (movement energy), tripa (hot energy) and baekan (cold energy). The trick is to keep your primary energies in balance. Tibetan medicine perceives each individual as having their own unique constitution, so there is no one-size-fits-all situation, but there are some approaches that can be broadly applied.
When it comes to cold drinks in hot weather, the basic premise is that cold shocks hot. This causes stagnation, impeding energy flow in the body. Stagnation affects digestion, circulation, and the functioning of our vital organs. Think of your body like a car: oil is hot, and so is antifreeze. Only hot agents can cool a car down: cold water will shock the engine, leading to expansion. This causes cracks in the engine block.
And so it is that on a warm day in Tibet (and there are many of them – the proximity of the mountains to the hot sun means that temperatures can be high even during wintertime), Tibetan people do not vary their diet or look out a new wardrobe. They continue to knock back the butter tea – a hot, warming broth, no iced versions invented yet – and to wear their chubas (traditional wool cloaks). When we were with relatives in Tibet I noticed that I did a lot more sweater on/sweater off stuff than the rest of the family – they have developed the art of keeping cool, in more than one sense of the expression.
We are open again this week for delicious (hot!) chai, momos and more. But – klaxon!❗️after this weekend the doors to the takeaway will be closed until Wednesday 7th September❗️GET IT WHILE YOU CAN! Here are our opening hours this week:
Wednesday: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Thursday – Saturday: 12-3 (lunch) / 5-9.30pm (dinner)
Make sure to stock up on freezer food (we’re running a BOGOF deal for all our newsletter subscribers this week – are you signed up yet?) or come by for chilled noodles, hot curry and of course all the momos.
A reminder that Foodstuff is not currently operating in Oxford, so if you have been enjoying TT home delivery you will now need to pop by the restaurant for takeaway instead. Do phone ahead with your order if you’d like – otherwise just turn up.
Hope everyone is coping ok in the heat. Remember that balance is key!
See you soon,
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds: 5-9.30pm
Thurs – Sat: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
☏ 01865 499318
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