Kazakhstan Eating

Eating

Meat, potatoes, rice and pasta. And lots of it. If you're vegetarian stay at home, because if it doesn't have meat in it, it was almost certainly cooked on meat stock. Some recommend dishes: Laghman - a thick noodle dish, usually served as a soup Manty - large steamed dumplings full of meat and onions Plov - wonderful dish of fried rice, meat, carrots, and sometimes other bits such as raisins or tomatoes Beshbarmak - wide, flat noodles, with boiled horseflesh on top - the traditional meal of Kazakhs Shashlyk - skewered, roasted chunks of meat, served with some sort of flatbread (usually lavash) and onions If you're a vegetarian, you're probably thinking there's nothing for you in Kazakstan. And you're right - so long as you eat out. But if you're cooking your own food, you'll be more than satisfied. Kazakstan has some excellent produce available at little markets everywhere. For a treat in Almaty, try Govinda's, a delicious vegetarian Hare Krishna restaurant. Malls have food courts with some vegetarian options too. Even some small Kazakh eateries will prepare vegetarian meals for you if you make it very clear to them (e.g. "byez myasa" "ya vegeterianetz/ka" in Russian). At some places (e.g. smak) you can even find vegetarian manty made with pumpkin. On the other hand, in Kazakhstan you can find any dishes you want, but Chinese and Japanese dishes are very expensive. The most delicious is caviar, which is very cheap, you can buy 1 kilo of caviar for less than USD300 in Almaty Zyeloniy Bazaar, but you can't export or take it with you home, you will be stopped at airport and pay high fines... You can find any sort of drink you want, some of the traditional beverages include: Kumiss - fermented mare's milk. Kumyran (Shubat)- fermented camel's milk Kvas - described as similar to root beer it can be bought in a bottle in a store, or by the cup from people with giant yellowish tanks of it on the street Cheap alcoholic drinks can be found at every little corner shop (called the astanovka). These places are open 24/7, just knock on their door if the shopkeeper is asleep. Kazakhstan's specialty is cognac, though stores still sell vodka cheaper than bottled water at times.