Postcard from Bishkek

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day … and had been marked every year since 1978 when the International Vegetarian Union endorsed the celebration established the previous year by the North American Vegetarian Society; the idea being, “to promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism” and to raise awareness of the “ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle“.

For the record, it doesn’t stop there because they have designated the whole of October as Vegetarian Awareness Month.  The month starts with World Vegetarian Day and end on November 1st with World Vegan Day.  Some of the other days in the Month have additional significance:

It seemed an appropriate moment to take a look at that old canard that it it can be difficult to travel in Central Asia, (and hence in Kyrgyzstan), “if you are not a passionate meat eater”.

The general impression is that the Kyrgyz love their meat and don’t understand different points of view … and, to be honest, there is some justice behind that.  Most vegetarians encounter some difficulties or challenges in trying to maintain their particular diet …  but if is possible do so, although it might involve some form of restriction or adaptation – but, then, most vegetarians are used to this anyway.

According to Peace Corps, there is a sufficient variety of food available to maintain a health vegetarian diet and although it may require a little advance planning, most of their vegetarian volunteers are able to complete their two year tour of duty without major problems.

For example, self catering is fairly straight forward.  Local markets and shops have plenty of fruit and vegetables, and dairy produce , (eggs and cheese), for those who aren’t Vegan.  Out of season dried fruit and nuts are plentiful as well as prickled or preserved vegetables,

 

Staying in guest houses, homestays, and Bed and Breakfast is fairly straight forward, as most landladies have received some training and are eager to please their guests … although it can mean eating a lot of eggs.  However, Kasha, (porridge), and Blini, (pancakes), are both popular options for breakfast and most landladies will be happy to prepare them if requested to do so.

Yurt stays can be more difficult because most yurts are located in remote spots, high in the mountains, far from the local shops and markets.  Fresh vegetables may be hard to come by, although Brad and Kaimak, (a butter cream), served with tea, are a common breakfast.

 

Restaurants, however, can provide a bit more of a challenge, and much may depend on the size and range of the the menu.  Most of the main courses on offer, for example, will involve meat, but that doesn’t mean to say that vegetarian dishes don’t exists – just that they involve a little more effort in searching for them.

Salads are on the menu almost everywhere you go – and although some of these may include meat as an ingredient, but “fresh salad” comprising sliced tomatoes and cucumbers is pretty universally available.  Shredded carrots and Cabbage salads, Beetroot and other vegetable salads are commonplace.

Some vegetable soups may be listed on the menu, such as Mushroom, Tomato or Lentil.  Borsch and Okroshka, on the other hand, will almost certainly involve meat and should be avoided.

Some restaurants specialise – say in Indian, Italian, Georgian or Mexican cuisine and they include on their menu some specific vegetarian dishes from their repertoire.  Just occasionally, if the restaurant is cosmopolitan, then it may be possible to find some vegetarian included on the menu.

“Garnish” is usually “vegetarian” in some form of another – Potatoes, Rice, Stewed Vegetables, Macaroni, Buckwheat … I have even seen Cauliflower Cheese.

Russian and European cuisine offers Vareniki which may have fillings with potato or tvorog - a form of cream cheese … and even fruit.

Although the locals may have a “love affair” with meat, that doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that they always eat meat.  Sometimes it is too expensive or impractical to eat meat at every meal.   There are special vegetarian varieties of popular meat dishes, for example Shirin Plov or Oromo  

 

I’ll come clean – although I am not a vegetarian, but I do like a lot of vegetarian dishes and have been known to spend long periods when I have not eaten meat.  In many cases it was just as easy to prepare, say, a vegetable curry as it is one with meat.  A ploughman’s lunch can be just as satisfying as a ham sandwich … and so on.

The biggest difficulty vegetarians seem to face here, however, is the reaction of many locals to the very concept, the idea that someone might chose for some reason not to eat meat.

Tags: Food and Drink, Kyrgyzstan, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan