A Taste of Kyrgyzstan
Audrey Hepburn may have enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany’s but recently I have started enjoying “Breakfast at Begemot”.
Breakfast is the first meal of the day and, in English, the word is a composite bringing together the two words “break” and “fast” and accurately so it describes the meal that “breaks the fast” since the previous night’s meal. It is said that it used to be the most important meal of the day, which may well be why a “Full English Breakfast” was, (is), almost a full meal … Bacon and eggs, sausages and/or that strange concoction “black pudding”, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, baked beans, fried bread, toast and jam … not mention the ubiquitous pot of tea. Then there was also porridge, and/or kedgeree, and/or kippers, and/or … you name it.
When I was growing up, breakfast was usually a bowl of cereal: Corn Flakes, Weetabix, Rice Crispies, … that sort of thing. Then, when I was a teenager, a new craze came along … Muesli … which was billed as the “healthy” option, although because it lacked the sugar content, it never seemed as popular.
In college, in the hall of residence, breakfast was the least well attended meal of the day – but it was good value and gave you the energy to face the ordeal of the morning lectures, or a day of TP, “teaching practice”.
When I started to feed myself instead of relying on the efforts of my mother or the college kitchen staff, breakfast became a cup of coffee, (instant coffee, as it was quicker and easier to prepare than tea), and a couple of slices of toast. That’s much closer to a “Continental Breakfast”: a hot drink, (for example, coffee or chocolate), and a bread (such as croissant) or a sweet “Danish” pastry.
Here in Bishkek I have taken to not bothering about breakfast. That’s probably a feature of getting up early … I am usually in the office by six … and the fact that I live over the office, (literally – my bedroom is directly above the office). I rise, wash and dress and come down to the office where I turn on the computer and whilst the emails are being downloaded I put on the kettle on and make myself a cup of coffee – and that’s it, Breakfast. I start going through the emails and before I know it, the working day has started and I am busy … so I never get round to making a proper breakfast. Mid morning, during the summer, I do go outside and get a Shoro from the stand on the street … a traditional refreshing Kyrgyz made from wheat – but from what I gather from visitors and other ex-pats, it is very much an acquired taste. Well, I’ve acquired it and, as I say, I find Shoro refreshing.
Not long ago, however, my early morning routine changed a little. Just round the corner from my office a hamburger stall opened: Begemot. I have taken to ordering one either first thing in the morning, or later for my midmorning “elevenses”.
Now, Kyrgyzstan has a wide range of restaurants, especially in the capital Bishkek, and it is possible to find one to suit almost every taste: European, French, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Lebanese, Moldavian, Georgian, and, of course, Central Asian. There are places where you can get Mexican and a variety of other tastes. There aren’t, however, many places which serve vegetarian food – and there aren’t any English restaurants …
I think it was Alistair Cooke that told the story about arriving in New York and asking a taxi driver to take him to a restaurant. “Sure,” they taxi driver said, “What sort of restaurant do you want … we’ve got Mexican, Chinese, Indian, French, Spanish …”. “How about an English Restaurant?” “Now there you’ve got me,” said the driver, who sat and thought for a while. Eventually he turned to his passenger and said, “You know, I don’t think there is one. Is there any such thing as British cuisine?”.
Yes, there is … although British cuisine, like Kyrgyz cuisine, tends to be simple … roasts, pies, casseroles and stews. If the British, mistakenly call the French “Frogs” because they sometimes eat frog’s legs, then the French know the Brits as “Roast Beef” due to our predilection to that particular dish. When I was growing up the favourite dish was probably Fish and Chips … and people here are fascinated, if not horrified, by my accounts of walking along the street eating a packet of chips wrapped up in newspaper.
There are no fish and Chips shops in Bishkek, but there a growing number “Fast Food” outlets in Bishkek, leading to a rise in popularity for Turkish kebabs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and the like, in addition to the traditional Central Asian Samsi. Places like Begemot.
Breakfast at Begemot was only the start. It led to a reawakening in my interest in the early morning meal … and in food generally.
Being put off by having to stand in line waiting for my daily hamburger, cheeseburger or whatever, one day I was walking by a shop selling kitchen equipment and remembering the toasted sandwiches which my mother used to make, I went in and bought an electric “toasted sandwich maker”. My mother’s sandwich maker was more versatile than my modern version. It was basically two metal cases, hinged at one side opposite long arms, which closed round the sandwich and was placed on the gas ring. Inside the casing it was possible to cook eggs, baked beans or, (my favourite at the time), cheese, ham and Branston sweet pickle fillings, I and sorts of other fillings. Although I can now prepare toasted sandwiches with my favourite filling, it won’t let me do ones with eggs and baked beans.
However, I am more than happy with my purchase. As it happens, it’s possible to get a wide variety of ingredients for fillings … different sorts of cheeses, meat pastes, and a variety of spreads for sauces … garlic, horseradish, mustard, chilli … oh … and, of course, Marmite.
Marmite … that typical, quintessentially British condiment, that people either love … or hate. I happen to love it, and I tend to spread it far too thickly on my toasted “soldiers”. It is one of the things that I really miss here – because you can’t buy Marmite in Bishkek. Most of the local people here fall into the category of those who “hate” it. They find its salty taste too strong. They seem to like it, however, when I use it in cooking, for example in a casserole or soup. I only know one or two local people who really like it … and one of them is a bit of a joker. When a visitor saw the characteristic black jar in his kitchen, they asked him what it is was … and he replied: “English jam.” “Oh, can I try it?”, he was asked and replied, “Sure, no problem.” The visitor took a teaspoon and dipped it into the gooey mixture just as he would into a jar of Raspberry jam and spooned into his mouth only to scream in disgust as it hit his taste buds.
It’s proved to be very popular in the office. Especially the variety of different fillings.
Cheese and Onion proved to be interesting. Although onions are widely used they are basically just an ingredient in salads and soups and the idea of employing onions as a basic taste came as a surprise … perhaps because the onions here tend to be small and sweeter than we have in Britain … even though they don’t have the sharp tart taste and don’t bring tears to the eyes in the same way, they still compliment the taste of the cheese.
Another “delight” of English cuisine which has aroused interest here is pickled eggs. To be fair, even in Britain, pickled eggs are not exactly common … but I have fond memories of walking home on Friday nights munching away at a packet of fish and chips … and a pickled egg. Now, the Russians seem to pickle everything … you name it, they seem to pickle it: herrings, tomatoes, cucumbers … Pickled cucumbers, for example, are almost an essential element to an evening of drinking vodka. A shot of vodka, (50 grams, that’s a “double” to an Englishman like me), downed in one, is swiftly followed by a piece of sliced pickled cucumber … presumably to mask the bitter taste. However, they don’t pickle eggs and the idea seems send people into a mix of apoplexy and curiosity. Earlier this year I pickled a small batch of eggs … and they stood in the office for six months with everyone looking at them askance with wonder. I was worried about the results because we can’t get malt vinegar here and I had to use a mix of pure transparent vinegar, apple vinegar and grape vinegar. When we came to try them, nearly everyone said something like, “interesting …”, which I took to mean, “Thank you but once was enough”. Anyway I went out and bought sixty eggs and about three liters of vinegar in order to another batch. I was told that I had boiled more eggs than most Russians do at Easter.
Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce has proved to be a bit more acceptable, although the mix of mint, vinegar and sugar in the sauce causes a few raised eyebrows as do Honey Roast Lamb and Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork. There seems to be a strong dislike for sweet sauces with meat dishes … I wonder how a Caribbean Restaurant would fare here … probably not very well.
Indian Restaurants face a similar problem. In Britain there are Indian Restaurants almost everywhere. If Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding used to be the typical English dish, it gave way to Fish and Chips Chips a long time ago. Nowadays, “curry” is probably the favourite dish in England. Here in Bishkek, on the other hand, there used to be two Indian restaurants, but they closed down some time ago and for a while there was nowhere where you find a real curry … but now Bishkek is graced with a fine Indian Restaurant. My only concern is that they sometimes seem reluctant to serve “hot” and “spicy” curries which are so beloved in England … probably because most locals find them too strong.
With such a host of tastes, we have started planning a new website: www.tastes.kg which will feature some of the wide variety of cuisines available here in Kyrgyzstan … I wonder what Audrey Hepburn would have made it …
Bishkek