Culinary Kyrgyzstan – There’s something for everyone
A few years ago I took part in a brainstorming exercise to try and come up with a new slogan for advertising Kyrgyzstan. We’ve had several slogans over the years and I wrote a postcard about some of them last year.
One of the principles of brainstorming is that each and every suggestion is noted in the initial stages, without any comment. The point of the exercise is to generate ideas, to spark new suggestions from those that have already been put forward. After the initial stage, there is the chance for discussion, revising and refining initial thoughts and weeding out any that are felt to be inaccurate, inadequate, inappropriate or just downright silly.
During the exercise, one suggestion that didn’t make the final cut was “There’s something for everyone”. I actually quite liked that one … well, I would. After all, it was one of my contributions.
When I asked to defend it, explain what I meant and justify it, I pointed out that although Kyrgyzstan is relatively small country, it is packed In fact, Kyrgyzstan has almost everything. Every element in Mendeleev’s table of elements; almost every climatic zone from Alpine to Steppe to Dessert to … you name it; over 80 different nationalities represented most of which preserve to a greater or lesser extent aspects of their individual national identity and culture; historical sites ranging from the ancient to medieval to Soviet; attractions for different types of tourism from recreational (sun, sand sea … and disco, up at Lake Issyk Kul) to adventure tourism, (mountaineering, trekking, horse riding, cycling, white water rafting, caving … you mention it); a vast range of wildlife, (fauna and flora); a range of accommodation and hostelries … and so on.
To be honest, there are, of course, some things where we have a deficit. We have no volcanoes, for example. Anyone who wants to climb down into the crater of a volcano and play dodge with a lava flow is going to be sadly disappointed.
Another problem is that although we may have examples of a particular theme or attraction, they may be few and far between. For example, although we have a number of hotels that are rated as five-star, luxury accommodation is pretty thinly spread once you leave the environs of Bishkek. There are some well appointed resorts on Lake Issyk Kul, but the demanding traveller wanting to travel the Great Silk Road and cross the overland border into China is likely to be disappointed with the accommodation options en route that don’t meet these exacting standards.
Then again, although there are a large number of museums around the country, some of them are pretty small and in poor condition. One visitor passed a comment that some of the exhibits in one museum probably would not occupy even storage space in a museum in the West, and although I didn’t actually agree with him, I could see his point.
For someone who might be interested in wildlife, then they would presumably want to see this in the wild. Sometimes that is not feasible, however, as some animals such as Argali (Marco Polo Sheep), and Bars, (or Ilbirs in Kyrgyz – Snow Leaopards), live in high remote regions and are notoriously shy of man. The chance to visit a Zoo might be one way to see specimens of some of the many endangered species which can be found in Kyrgyzstan, but there isn’t one, at least not in Bishkek bit there is the Nabu Wildlife Protection Centre in Karakol.
One of the problems that we often face when trying to put together an itinerary for certain groups, is the need to satisfy certain culinary requests.
On one occasion, for example, we had a client who had obviously done their research and they told us that in Karakol they wanted to eat with a Dungan family, in Djalal Abad they wanted an Uzbek meal, somewhere they wanted to experience Tartar cuisine and in another place Turkish, elsewhere Russian and traditional Kyrgyz dishes.
Catering for vegetarians (and vegans), for example, can be difficult; especially once you leave the major cities such as Bishkek. It’s by no means as difficult these as it was when started the company and some people in the villages looked dumbfounded when we said a group included some vegetarians, didn’t eat meat, and so needed to have a separate dish prepared. It was as if they had arrived from another planet and not just another country. We had to explain that they couldn’t prepare Shorpo and then simply remove the meat before serving it up to the guests. These days, as more people are becoming involved in working with tourists, (especially thanks to the efforts of the various CBT groups), this is very much a rarity.
It is much more difficult, however, explaining to an Indian or Chinese client that we cannot provide Indian or Chinese cuisine for the full itinerary. That, once they leave Bishkek, it might be difficult to find any restaurants that can prepare such dishes. In Bishkek, however, there is plenty of scope as there is a wide variety of choice when it comes to selecting places to eat and different cuisines.
Indeed there is something likely to suit every taste; something for everyone.
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I came across a post the other day which brought this home to me. It was a follow up article on the current situation in the south of Kyrgyzstan. One of the interesting repercussions of last years violence is that a number of restaurants and cafés have now changed hands. It included the following quote from Justin Vela, ( a freelance journalist who is based in Istanbul):
There was this huge food surprise in Bishkek. You don’t go to Central Asia expecting great food. At least I don’t. But you go to Bishkek and in this relatively small capital you have a massive variety of food from all of the world. And it is all really good. I am based in Istanbul, which is far more of an international city than Bishkek. But there is not anywhere near the same variety of food in Bishkek. One night, I was eating hummus and olives at a Lebanese restaurant. The next evening, rich rabbit stew at a Ukrainian place with a garden, drinking German beer with lemon. That was Easter dinner. You have to speak Russian or go with someone that speaks Russian to these restaurants. The menus are generally in cyrillic. But the food scene there is really impressive there. Chinese, Korean, Tex-Mex, Turkish, several Italian places. You can go to Bishkek just to eat.
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As I said, there’s something to suit every taste; something for everybody!
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For the record: Some time ago, I wrote a short postcard on Kyrgyz Cuisine and another on Dungan cuisine. I have also posted on some specific dishes such as Boorsok and Laghman as well as several places in Bishkek to “eat out”, such as: The Alabama Steakhouse (with Steaks and Shashlik but also Georgian cuisine); Begemot (fast food, a sort of hamburger stall); Cyclone, (predominantly Italian); the Mexican Cantina, (it should be obvious from the name what sort of cuisine they offer); Obzhorka (a Turkish cafe) and Shaolin (a Chinese cafe).
Obviously, there are many more venues and many dishes, (I keep promising myself, for example, that I will write a postcard on the classic Kyrgyz dish, Beshbarmak, but never seem to get round to it … maybe, sometime soon!), and many more venues which offer excellent food.
Bishkek