featured in this issue - NZIFST - The New Zealand Institute of Food ...

TRAVELLER’S TALE
Yak butter: a holiday yarn
or... Nomadic dairying in the Himalaya
Dave Pooch, FNZIFST
Introduction
One day in late November the
phone rang at home. It was Barba Tulku
Rinpoche, a monk and friend from Bhutan,
a small kingdom in the Himalaya
where I had previously worked.
“Are you free” he asked lightly.
“Oh yes” I answered as lightly as
possible but wondering what this was
about.
“It is a good time to come to Bhutan
because of the coronation and all, but,
are you free”
That was the second time he had used
the word ‘free’ but he was thinking about
time and I was thinking about money.
“But how about the visa and air tickets”
“Oh” he said “those people are all our friends and you say
you are free so I will try”. Click.
A few days later my wife Judy told me he had called again;
the visa had been approved (normally it takes weeks or months),
and I was booked on the Bangkok to Bhutan flight but I would
have to leave Auckland the next day. So I did.
A different world
Soon I was wandering through
the weekend market in the trafficlight-free
capital of Thimphu. There,
I was intrigued to see butter for sale
wrapped up in leaves. It was yak butter
and had been made by nomads.
Thinking this could make an interesting
article on dairying I asked my
monk friend to help me find some
of these people. He agreed and early
the next morning we set off for the
highest driveable pass in the kingdom;
the 3988m Chele la. Just over
the pass we saw a lone yak standing
well above the road. We stopped the
car and Rinpoche let forth with a high pitched whoop. Someone
from even further up the mountain immediately whooped
back. Clearly this was some kind of nomad call sign. Then a
dog barked from below. Rinpoche gestured with his chin and
remarked “the man with the yaks is up there, but the dog will
be at the camp. It is easier to go down”.
We walked towards the barking and found their winter camp
just above the tree line (and at 3,500m altitude
higher than Mt Cook) The tent was
made of plastic sheeting draped over a
semi permanent rough-hewn wooden
frame. After securing the dogs (large shaggy
haired animals) the nomads invited us into
the tent, blew life into the fire and started
making tea. I began asking questions about
their life and their dairy technology.
One surprise; miles away from electricity
and civilisation, while we were sitting in
the tent, a mobile phone rang. The youngest
nomad, a teenager of perhaps 18, pulled
out a phone from the folds of his clothing
and read a text message. Wonderful technology
and potentially life saving too but I
wondered if the nomads’ wives started their
calls by asking that question, especially difficult
for a nomad “Where are you”
A typical Bhutanese yak. A little stockier
than a dairy cow, they produce milk with
7.9% fat
Selling yak butter in the Thimphu weekend market. Oxidative rancidity is a
problem. In the background is Barba Tulku Rinpoche (wearing burgundy
and gold) who was my guide
Nomadic life
The nomads stay at their winter camp
for the coldest months but in March, as the
snow melts, they load their tent, pots, ropes
and sundry other equipment onto the dry
and male yaks and, far from roads, move
progressively higher, following the new
season’s grazing. Typically they stay in one
camp for two weeks: it takes that long to
eat out feed in the area. They will camp at
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