Kazakhstan’s cuisine

Kazakhstan’s cuisine is hard to distinguish from that of its neighbours, and it is difficult to identify dishes the Kazakhs can really claim as their own. Mostly these are meals prepared from cooked mutton, and camel and horsemeat. The milk of these animals, served in tea or fermented in the form of kumis (mare’s milk) or shubat (camel’s milk), is the aperitif for every classic Kazakh meal, served along with baursaki (fried dough), raisins, irimshik (sour cow's cheese) or kurt (salted cheese balls).

Most guests feel full after only the first course, but a feast in a yurt always lasts a long time, and many more sumptuous meat dishes follow. These dishes are usually served with shorpa, a strong broth in which the meat has been cooked. Thinly rolled pieces of dough cooked into large noodles provide the carbohydrate portion of the meal. Another round of kumis, followed by tea, concludes the meal.

Many dishes of Arabian, Tatar, Uzbek, Uygur, Korean and Russian origin have been added to the Kazakh culinary lexicon, and they also grace the dastarkhan, a richly filled dinner table, named after the Persian word that means a tablecloth spread on the floor. If you are lucky enough to be invited to a dastarkhan you should join it with an empty stomach but not empty-handed. A small souvenir from your own country would be especially appreciated by your hosts. Otherwise, a bottle of good wine or cognac or a cake is welcome.

If you are a non-drinker you will need a very good excuse, or else the tamada, the toast-master - generally a highly esteemed person at the table who is responsible for the proper order of toasts - will be successful in his friendly but persistent attempts to ensure you drain more than one tumbler of either vodka or cognac, both of which are ever present at Kazakh meal times.

These days, meals start with a variety of salads, most of which originate from Russian cuisine. First courses also include mutton or horsemeat, and smoked fish. By helping yourself moderately to these delights, you can still enjoy the next round of meat dishes without embarrassing yourself with your pitiful appetite. It is sometimes hard to hide your amazement at the sight of the heaped plates of meat that arrive on the table, but the Kazakh ability to eat is legendary. Meat dishes are still the core of any dastarkhan, and the splendour of these feasts is measured by the sheer size of those dishes. Fortunately, there are many guests, the evening is long, and the vodka is in abundance. When the feast is finally coming to an end, the hostess will serve up cake or pastries along with large dishes of dried fruits and sweets. Tea is the courteous sign for an imminent conclusion to the night's revelry. The last, obligatory toast by the guests is to the host and hostess. Before leaving, you should drain your glass and say, "Zbol ayakh!" - meaning “May we return home safely”. A dastarkhan is an unforgettable experience; the great variety of dishes and drinks, the witty toasts, the heaviness in the stomach, will for long be a subject of conversation.