A Guide to Kyrgyz Food

Kyrgyz food comes out of a nomadic tradition, which shapes everything about it: lots of meat, lots of dairy, bread with every meal and dishes built to be filling after a day outdoors. It's hearty rather than delicate and it grows on you fast.

Dishes to look for

• Beshbarmak: The national dish. Boiled meat (usually horse or lamb) served over wide flat noodles. Traditionally eaten with your hands; the name means "five fingers."

• Laghman: Hand-pulled noodles with meat and vegetables, either as a soup or fried. A Dungan and Uyghur influence and one of the best things you'll eat here.

• Plov: Rice cooked with meat, carrots and onion. Common across Central Asia and a staple at celebrations.

• Manty: Large steamed dumplings, usually filled with meat and onion.

• Samsa: Baked pastries with meat filling, often cooked in a tandoor oven. Excellent street food.

• Shorpo: A simple meat and potato soup, exactly what you want after a cold day.

• Boorsok: Small pieces of fried dough, served with almost everything and constantly refilled.

Drinks

Kymyz is fermented mare's milk, mildly alcoholic, sour and genuinely an acquired taste. It's a summer drink and deeply tied to nomadic culture. If you're at a yurt camp between roughly June and August, you will be offered some. Trying it is a small act of respect, even if you don't finish the bowl.

Maksym and chalap are other traditional fermented drinks you'll see sold from barrels in summer. Tea, usually black and served constantly, accompanies everything.

Eating at a yurt camp

Meals are simple, home-cooked and served family-style: soup, bread, dairy, some kind of meat and potato dish, endless tea. Portions are generous. The quality is genuinely good in a way that surprises people. This is food cooked by the family that runs the camp, not catering.

Vegetarians and vegans

Be upfront about it, in advance. Traditional Kyrgyz cuisine is meat-centric and the concept of vegetarianism isn't universally familiar in rural areas. That said, it's entirely workable: vegetable laghman, dairy, bread, salads and rice dishes are all available and Bishkek has a growing number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants.

Vegans will find it harder in rural areas, since dairy is everywhere. If you're traveling with us, tell us when you book and we'll arrange it with the camps and guesthouses ahead of time.