FoodKyrgyzstan stood on the crossroads of the Silk Road, and the caravan routes which crossed the territory carried not only goods for trade, but also brought examples of various cultures: Turkish, Persian, Arabian, Indian, Chinese, Russian, and European and these mingled with the culture and traditions of Central Asia. As a result Kyrgyz cuisine has absorbed elements from all of the cultures with which it came into contact, and although many dishes that you will find are common throughout Central Asia, it is still possible to find examples that have preserved their original, national identity. In many areas, such as Bishkek, Russian cuisine is common, but it is now possible to find examples from all over the world, including the all embracing «European», Indian, Korean, Turkish and Chinese. Outside the cities local dishes, (such as Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Dungan) are more common.
It is said that the food in Central Asia falls into three different types: the subsistence diet of the once nomadic peoples such as the Kyrgyz (mainly meat, milk products and bread); the diet of settled Turkish peoples (the Uzbeks and Uigurs) including pilafs, kebabs, noodles and pasta, stews and elaborate pastries and breads; and dishes which come from the South (Iran, India, Pakistan and China) with more seasoning and herbs.
In Kyrgyz culture many dishes used to have special, ritual importance, and be connected with particular calendar holidays. Although these dishes are of great interest, unfortunately, many of them are being forgotten, and have fallen into disuse whilst some, which formerly had ritual contents, have lost their initial meaning and are progressively turning into every-day dishes.
Meat is central to Kyrgyz cooking — the nomadic way of life did not allow for the growing of fruit and vegetables — which means that vegetarian visitors may find it difficult to find dishes that meet their needs.
Traditionally the Kyrgyz are a very hospitable people. If a Kyrgyz family invites you for a meal then you should take a small gift — nothing lavish, for example fruit or flowers. Take your shoes off when entering the house. Picnics, especially, are served on a dastorkon, (a large cloth laid out on the ground around which the gathering sits — with your feet either to your side or away from the dastorkon), but don«t be surprised if this happens indoors as well. Handle the food only with your right hand. At the end of the meal bring your two hands up to the face and drag them down as if washing the face and recite the word "omin" — the Muslim equivalent of "amen". In many homes, (unless strict Muslim ones) eating will also involve drinking. Alcohol will be served and you will be expected to drink. Don’t think that you can drink just a little — once started it can be difficult to decline further rounds — especially as drinks are often associated with toasts. It may be better to decide on complete abstinence (on religious or health grounds, for instance) than suffer the consequences of excessive hospitality later on.
One of the most essential features of Kyrgyz cuisine is that dishes should preserve their taste and appearance. For example, there are almost no dishes comprising puree, minced, or chopped meat, (although there are a few exceptions.) Also, Kyrgyz dishes tend to have a plain taste; sauces and spices are used in only small batches. Sauces are intended only to bring out the taste of the dish — not to change it.
Some dishes
Beshbarmak — Perhaps the most typical Kyrgyz dish. The dish is meant to be eaten with the hands, not with a knife and fork! — «Besh» means five, and «barmak», finger. Beshbarmak is served when guests arrive and at almost any festive gathering. This meal consists of noodles, which are mixed with boiled meat cut into tiny pieces and served with a medium spicy sauce. Bouillon is then poured over the mixture.
Shashlyk — or Kebabs — meat cubes on skewers cooked over the embers of burning twigs. Mutton is the meat usually used, but it is possible to find beef, chicken, liver and even pork shashlyk. The meat may simply be freshly sliced or may have been marinated overnight. Be warned, if the meat is mutton, then almost certainly one of the pieces on the skewer will be pure fat … the dripping fat onto the burning embers is thought to enhance the taste). Shashlyk is usually served with a sprinkling of raw onion, vinegar and lepeshki.
Plov — (really an Uzbek dish) — rice mixed with boiled, or fried meat, onions and carrots (and sometimes other ingredients such as raisins), all cooked in a semi-hemispherical metal bowl called a kazan over a fire.
Lagman — (another Uzbek dish) — flat noodles cooked in a stew of tiny pieces of mutton, potatoes, carrots, onions and white radishes. A Russian version, minus the noodles, called Shorpo, can often be found
Oromo — This is not usually found in restaurants, but a Kyrgyz family may serve you it. It can be prepared with meat, or as a vegetarian dish. Potatoes, onions and carrots are shredded and spread onto a mat of rolled out pastry, which is then rolled into roulette and steamed in a special pan called a kazgun (In Kyrgyz «oromo» means «roulette»).
Ashlan-foo — a spicy dish made with cold noodles, jelly, vinegar and eggs.
Bliny — (a Russian dish), pancakes, rolled and filled with meat, tvorak (a sort of cottage cheese), or jam.
Pirojki — flat dough filled with meat, potatoes, cabbage or sometimes nothing at all — sold by street sellers.
Manty — steamed dumplings filled with shredded meat (or sometimes pumpkins), usually eaten with the fingers. A word of warning — watch out for the hot, liquid fat that can come squirting out from them. Also, sometimes the meat can be fatty, or gristle.
Pelmeni — a from of Russian ravioli which can be served in a bouillon (or broth) or without, and usually smetana (sour cream).
Samsa — Samsy (in the plural) are baked meat dumplings often cooked in a tandyr (clay oven). Once again, be warned of the heat and fatty juice that squirts out when you bite into one.
Boorsoks – pieces of dough fried in oil;
Chuchuk – fat salami made of mutton;
Shorpo - very traditional Kyrgyz soup;
Chak-chak – sweat meal of fried dough with honey.
Bread — In Bishkek there is a wide range of breads available. Outside the cities, the flat, round lepeshka is found almost everywhere. Fresh, warm, straight from the tandyr (a clay oven) it is particularly pleasant. At meals it is usually broken, not cut with a knife and never placed on the table upside down.
Meat — The most common form of meat is used in Kyrgyz cuisine is mutton. Sheep have a high place in Kyrgyz culture and the Kyrgyz use every part of the animal for something. Sheep meat tends to be more fatty than that from other animals, and so it should be no surprise that fatty meat is often considered to be the best. (There is even a Kyrgyz saying — «Cheap mutton has little fat»). In some households and festivals the Sheep«s head, (the eyes in particular), may be offered to an honoured guest. Horsemeat is also highly revered and for special occasions and funerals it is common for a horse to be slaughtered and the cooked and presented to guests. Only young mares are used which have been fed on Alpine grasses, which are thought to give the meat a particularly good flavour. A great favourite in the countryside, (but also available in Bishkek) is chuchuk — a sort of sausage made from horsemeat. Beef is also found, but less often. The Kyrgyz rarely uses chicken — chickens being found among settled peoples rather than nomads. Pork is not used by the Kyrgyz, but can be found in Chinese and Russian restaurants.
Fish — Fresh fish are caught in the lakes such as Son-Kul and Issyk Kul. Popular are the dried and smoked fish that are sold by the roadside near Issyk-Kul.
Fruit and Vegetables — most of the produce is grown locally and seasonal and there is a wide variety — although recently more exotic fruits and vegetables are imported and available in the markets. You can encounter fresh produce, cooked, dried and preserved (jams/pickles etc.) Nuts are also very popular.
Honey is very popular — and in the mountains the traveller can come across a solitary trailer, or a cluster of five or six gathered together, packed with and surrounded by beehives. The owner will happily sell a litre of fresh mountain honey (but you should have your own container if possible).
Drinks
Tea and Coffee — Tea (black or green) is common and comes in various forms and is usually made strong and mixed with hot water when served. It may well be served in a bowl rather than a cup. Coffee is more likely to be instant served, without milk.
Arak (Kyrgyz for Vodka) the most common and popular form of hard alcohol — watch out for Samogonka — home made vodka. When drinking vodka — watch your hosts — Russians tend to drain their glasses — «down in one» — and so do many Kyrgyz — but a lot of Kyrgyz only drink half the glass.
Cognac — Kyrgyz Cognac is the local form of brandy. It comes in various qualities some of which are quite good.
Champagne — dryish and crisp when well cooled.
Wine — Kyrgyzstan does grow grapes and does produce wine. Most of it fairly sweet and not to the visitors«taste.
Beer — many brands of imported beers are now available and a German-Kyrgyz joint venture produces Steinbrau, a German type beer brewed locally in Bishkek. Most local brands are cheaper but do not keep well and need to be drunken
— «fresh» (i. e. within three days).
Kumys — (or koumiss) — fermented mare’s milk, is an acquired taste. Kumys is sold from the roadside throughout the country in the summer but it is best from the herders themselves in more remote mountain regions such as around Son-Kul. Refusing a drink of kumys can cause offence. The milk is poured into a vessel made from a cleaned sheep»s skin, which has been smoked by burning pine branches to give the drink a special smell and taste and it is beaten periodically with a special stick called a «bishkek». The traditional way of making koumiss is for mare«s milk to be stored in animal skins (chinach), which has been cleaned and smoked over a fire of pine branches to give the drink a special smell and taste. One third of yesterday»s milk is mixed with new milk and allowed to ferment in the warmth of the yurt. It is then churned, beaten with a wooden stick (a bishkek) and becomes alcoholic before turning into lactic acid. In the 1840"s, Russian doctors discovered that kumys had curative properties and used it for treating tuberculosis, anaemia, chronic lung diseases and gynecological and skin diseases. Some 16 special sanatoria were established which treated patients with lots of fresh air, exercise and koumiss. They served a number of famous people including members of the imperial family, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and even a minor British Member of Parliament who made the journey to Central Asia especially to undergo the treatment. Unfortunately, traditional kumys can be stored for only up to three days, so production is limited to the milking period of mares. To solve this problem, a method of producing pasteurized kumys was developed allowing treatment all year round, and even export. A special facility has recently started for the production of pasteurized kumys in the Naryn region.
Bozo — an alcoholic drink made from boiled, fermented millet grains resembling beer.
Maksym — (Shoro is a brand name which is sold from Barrels on Bishkek streets) — is a wheat based drink that Kyrgyz like to drink in the summer.
Airan (also known as Kefir) — is a milk drink that resembles drinking yogurt.
Water — In Bishkek the tap water is generally safe to drink, but if you have a delicate stomach, or are concerned then boil the water. Bottled mineral water is available throughout the country but tends to be carbonated and a little salty, and can be an acquired taste.
