Tibetan native displays nation’s values through food

In the heart of Bloomington, Fourth Street offers a slew of ethnic restaurants for students and locals to experience. Anyetsang’s Little Tibet serves a combination of Tibetan, Indian and Thai food, for reasons even the average “townie” might not know.

Originally from Tibet, Thupten Anyetsang spent the first eight years of his childhood playing atop the picturesque mountains in Kham. Anyetsang describes Tibet as a beautiful and peaceful nation, rooted in Buddhist tradition.

The country has changed since Anyetsang and his older brother fled in 1959. Anyetsang was only eight or nine years old when he crossed the Himalayan Mountains on foot to arrive in India because of exile.

Anyetsang moved from India to the United States to further his education. He traveled the United States but was drawn to Bloomington for its small-town feel and diversity.
Anyetsang’s Little Tibet restaurant was born in 1989.

“I don’t think many people knew about Tibet when I came here,” Anyetsang said. “I wanted to show the culture of Tibet through the food.”

Upon entering the restaurant, deep, rich smells of Thai spices hit the nose. If that’s not enough of a cultural experience, customers can take a gander at a table full of information about Tibet before they dine.

Further inside the restaurant sits Anyetsang’s 3-inch-thick rough draft version of “The Son of a Khampa Warrior,” a memoir about his life as a Tibetan-American that he began writing in 2006. The memoir was written for his two sons, Tenzin and Rinzin Anyetsang, who help manage Anyetsang’s Little Tibet.

In “The Son of a Khampa Warrior,” Anyetsang tells the story of his journey from Tibet to Bloomington along with powerful anecdotes about his father, a Khampa warrior who lost his life fighting for Tibetan freedom.

“Tibetans are becoming a minority in their own country,” Anyetsang said. “It’s a sad, sad story.”

Anyetsang wrote the manuscript in English but is currently in the process of translating it into different languages, including Tibetan, so his family members will be able to read it.

The pride Anyetsang has for his home country shows throughout Anyetsang’s Little Tibet with Tibetan memorabilia, including colorful hanging tapestries, first-generation family photographs, and a soothing waterfall that glimmers in the sunlight outdoors.

The green curry is one of Anyetsang’s personal favorite dishes. Tender carrots, green beans, zucchini, bamboo shoots and a choice of meat are served over a creamy, pale green curry sauce.

Anyetsang’s Little Tibet has served internationally known and local celebrities, like Richard Gere and IU President Michael McRobbie, who often frequents the restaurant.

In 2007 during a visit to IU, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet ate food prepared by Anyetsang. 

Anyetsang humbly carries out the human values taught by the Dalai Lama. Twelve years ago, Anyetsang, author of “Pioneering in Tibet: The Life and Times of Dr. Albert
Shelton” Douglas Wissing and associate professor of central Eurasian studies professor Dr. Elliot Sperling started giving donations to help develop and build Dahor Village School in the same village where Anyetsang grew up in Eastern Tibet.

After visiting Tibet for the first time in 35 years in 1993, Anyetsang saw the devastation Tibet had been through since he and his brother fled the country, and he got an idea.
“I saw children playing in the dirt,” Anyetsang said as he laid his hand on his heart, “and I felt like I should do something.”

Since that day in 1993, Anyetsang visits Dahor Village School twice a year to see the children. An entire wall of photographs from Dahor Village School is displayed for all to see inside Anyetsang’s Little Tibet restaurant. In the restaurant menu, it is written that a portion of the proceeds from Little

Tibet provide teacher salaries and book supplies to the Dahor Village School.
Anyetsang said he has come far since his days as a child in Kham and hopes to one day return to an independent Tibet. Until then, Anyetsang, with help from his two sons and close-knit staff, is serving up the Tibetan, Indian, and Thai cuisine that he’s grown to love.

His restaurant’s dishes, including the Mo Mos, reel in many customers because of their traditional taste.

Dr. Kathleen Heath, an Indiana State University associate professor of anthropology,  travels to Bloomington once a month to enjoy the authentic cuisine.    

“I know there are many great restaurants in Bloomington,” Heath said, “but I cannot imagine driving that far and missing out on their Mo Mos.”