Kyrgyz National Cuisine: The Fruit of Nomadic Culture
Kyrgyz cuisine is rich and unique.
The Kyrgyz are a nomadic people, representatives of an ancient nomadic culture. Not only their worldview, philosophy, and attitude towards life, but also their food culture have been shaped over centuries as a result of their nomadic lifestyle. The way of life of nomads involved constant movement from place to place across steppes and mountains, in both cold and warm weather, which is why their food was caloric and nutritious.
One of the features of Kyrgyz cuisine is that the products largely retain their natural appearance and taste.
The concept of "nomadic lifestyle" does not mean that the Kyrgyz endlessly roamed, moving continuously from one place to another. The ancestors of today's Kyrgyz herders led a mixed type of economy, sometimes engaging in agriculture and crafts – for the most part, they were valley dwellers, traditionally more settled.
Nevertheless, traditional Kyrgyz cuisine is that of a nomadic people, primarily characterized by its heartiness, maximum usefulness, and balance, as much as possible, in any season of the year, and simplicity of preparation. Equally important was that the traditional raw materials, the basis for food preparation, consisted of products that were always at hand, which were not rare and were found in every yurt – nomads could not afford any excess.
The diet of nomadic Kyrgyz consisted mainly of meat and dairy products, barley and coarsely ground wheat in the form of cereals, and less often – jujura (a type of sorghum). Barley and wheat flour were also used. The meat was mainly mutton, horse meat, and less often goat meat or yak meat (among the Pamir Kyrgyz). It was eaten boiled, or fried in cauldrons. From fried meat, they prepared kaurdak (kuurdak); in the past, this was simply chopped meat, liver, tail fat, sometimes with the addition of kidneys and lungs, fried in a cauldron; later, onions and potatoes were added to it.
From boiled meat, they made beshbarmak – thick noodles mixed with finely chopped meat, served separately with meat broth in a bowl.
In ancient times, wheat noodles were served rarely; in everyday menus, beshbarmak was replaced by naryn – another traditional dish of nomadic Kyrgyz, the recipe of which not everyone knows today. In it, the noodles or pieces of dough were replaced with the addition of onions and ayran.
Boiled meat is served with broth - "sorpo", and a dish made from finely chopped meat - "naryn", "tuuralgan et". Pieces of mutton are distributed according to the status of the guests; the honored are given the head - "bash"; then the ilium - "jambash", the tibia - "zhoto" or "chukeluu zhilik", the femur - "kashka zhilik", the radius - "kar zhilik", the shoulder blade - "daly", and also the ribs - "kabyrga" (besides the ribs from the front part of the carcass "kara kabyrga"). Only women are given the coccyx - "kuymulchak", the brisket - "tyosh", and young daughters-in-law are given the bone from the knee to the shoulder blade - "kun zhilik". From horse meat, honored guests are given the sacrum - "ucha", ribs - "kabyrga", as well as sausage made from meat with fat - "chuchuk", and mane - "zhal".
Milk in its pure form was hardly ever drunk – it was used to make sour cream (kaymak), melted butter, ayran, and suzma. Using a specially prepared cheese starter – ejigey – they made kurut (salted cheese), which was then rolled into balls and dried. Mare's milk was used for kumys.
Crushed grains (barley, wheat, jujura) were lightly roasted and used to prepare soups or liquid cereals, diluting with ayran. This dish was prepared quickly, and the pre-prepared grain mixture (talkan, tolokno) could be stored for an indefinite time.
Due to their nomadic lifestyle, Kyrgyz replaced tandoor flatbreads with those fried in oil. In the same way, a festive treat – boorsoks (baursaks) – pieces of sour, yeast dough, fried in a cauldron in a large amount of boiling oil, was prepared. Dough dishes - "kamyr tamak" - are a later phenomenon in Kyrgyz culture and appear in the following varieties: "kesme kozhe", "gulche", "zhayma ash", "kesme atala", and others.
In spring, plant foods enriched with microelements were also used: sprouted wheat and barley, wild garlic, various edible herbs, and roots. Plant foods consisted of wheat, corn, jujura, rice, millet, and oats. Various dishes were prepared from whole grains and flour. These included various cereals - "kozhe", "botko", batter - "atala", soups - "umach", "maksym", "zharma", and others.
Occasionally, non-traditional products that were consumed by the southern residents, Uzbeks or Chinese, found their way to the tables of Kyrgyz nomads: dried fruits – raisins, apricots, figs; tea – black and green, honey, lump sugar, and navat, various sweets.
The Kyrgyz had a practice of stockpiling food for the future. They mainly prepared dried dairy products, butter, and meat. The meat intended for storage was called "sogum" or "kyshky sogum" and was kept in dried, smoked, or salted form. For long journeys or military campaigns, they prepared provisions - "kulazyk", finely crumbled dried meat or meat well fried in fat, tolokno.
Some changes in food occurred as a result of the influence of the cuisines of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Uyghurs, Dungans, Russians, Ukrainians, and other peoples in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries.
Modern Kyrgyz cuisine is characterized by a variety of meat, dairy, and flour dishes. Meat dishes are prepared from horse meat, mutton, beef, and poultry. Horse meat, as before, is used to prepare ritual dishes. The most common methods of thermal processing of meat products are boiling, stewing, frying. For family and public celebrations, the ancient dish of nomads - beshbarmak - finely chopped meat of a young lamb, poured with broth and mixed with homemade noodles boiled in broth, is still prepared. Special mention should be made of sausage made from horse meat with fat - chuchuk and meat assortments (boiled horse meat, karyn, karta).
Although modern Kyrgyz cuisine continues to preserve its uniqueness and national traditions in the preparation of many dishes, new dishes have emerged, and food has become significantly more diverse. Among the borrowed dishes are meat soup (shorpo) with potatoes and onions, fried potatoes with meat (jarkop), various salads, and others. Various vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, jussai, cabbage, and carrots are now widely used in the preparation of different dishes. In southern Kyrgyzstan, pumpkin is popular.
It is added to soups, dumplings, manti, oromo, eaten with meat, and prepared as an independent dish.
A significant place in Kyrgyz cuisine is traditionally occupied by flour products. The ancient ritual dish - boorsok - fried pieces of rolled dough remains popular. They began to bake almaluu nan, ton mosho, kattama, layered flatbreads, fried flatbreads, pancakes, and others. Bread products "tokoch" or "nan" consist of the following types: flatbread made from sour dough - "kemoch"; rich layered thin flatbread - "kattama", layered flatbreads made from unleavened dough - "chabaty"; large round flatbreads fried in fat with cuts in the center - "mai tokoch"; its variety - "chelpek", "chozmo". In southern Kyrgyzstan, baking bread in a tandoor – a clay oven for baking flatbreads and pies – has become widespread.
Flour products are mainly consumed with tea. Over the last two centuries, the custom of tea drinking has firmly entered the traditional cuisine of the Kyrgyz. Tea is one of the most popular drinks among the Kyrgyz, and in summer, green tea (kök chai) is preferred in Kyrgyzstan. This drink is consumed in the morning, before and after lunch, in the evening, and is drunk with fresh milk or cream, slightly salted. There was a unique way of preparing tea with the addition of flour roasted in oil, salt, and milk - "kuurma chai" and its variety "ak chai". A special type of tea is aktagan. It is prepared with milk, butter, sour cream, and salt. Accompanying tea, in addition to flatbreads and boorsoks, are butter, kaymak, dried fruits, candies, honey, cookies, and other confectionery products.
Kumys (kymyz) was and remains a favorite drink. Among the Kyrgyz, there is a popular type of alcoholic beverage made from bread - "bozo", which is prepared from millet, barley, or corn. "Bozo" is mainly consumed by adults and only in winter. A large number of drinks made from tolokno, barley, and wheat - jarma, maksym, are prepared using ancient methods.
The old tradition in the eating regime has survived to this day: the most filling, meaty food is predominantly consumed in the evening.
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