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Next: about 7 to 9 Feb 2027

Losar and the Himalayan yak cheeses

The Tibetan and Bhutanese new year, when dried churpi, butter tea and datshi dishes are part of the household feast.

Photo: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cheeses for Losar and the Himalayan yak cheeses

Losar is the new year of the Tibetan calendar, celebrated in Tibet, Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and among Tibetan communities everywhere. Houses are cleaned, khapse biscuits are fried, and two nights before the new year guthuk soup is served. Dairy from yak and dzo herds is central to the region's food: chhurpi, a cheese dried until it is hard enough to chew for hours, and soft chhurpi for cooking; butter tea for every guest. In Bhutan, ema datshi, chillies cooked in cheese, sits on the feast table. The date is set by the Tibetan calendar and can differ by region.

The cheeses

ChhurpiHard dried yak or cow cheese chewed slowly through the festival.DatshiBhutan's soft cheese for ema datshi at the new year table.

Also part of it, and being written: Chura kampo (Tibetan dried cheese made from buttermilk curd.).

About this page

Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Losar" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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