Let’s Talk About Food

I’ve been in Uzunagach over 2 weeks now, and I’ve written about lots of things so far. It’s about time I give some special attention to quite possibly my favorite thing so far about Kazakhstan – the food. It is true we do eat a lot of meat and bread, but a few good things have come from that, one of which being a new found appreciation for vegetables. I also have started liking tomatoes, something I never really liked back home. We have cucumbers and tomatoes sliced on a place sprinkled with a bit of salt at almost every meal, and sometimes there aren’t many other veggies on the table. So, to make sure I am getting some form of a balanced diet, I try to eat as many of the veggies as I can, knowing that there is always bread and rice to go around. And the tomatoes are good. Having never eaten many at home, I can’t say they’re better or worse than the ones my mother raves about in the summer, but I’m willing to bet these could compete. But the veggies aren’t even the exciting part. There are three things that jump out at me so far that I get excited about when I see them on the dinner table. First – homemade blackberry jam. OH MY. It is rich and sweet and I slather it all over my bread and put it in my tea, breakfast lunch and dinner. I hope we never run out, because I eat a lot of it. Next – manta. Manta is a meat and veggie dumpling-type food that we’ve had twice. For Bayan’s 21^st birthday on Saturday, we had lots and lots of them. It is ground beef, pumpkin and onion folded into a noodle pouch and steamed so that the pouch seals and you’re left with a handheld packet that explodes in your mouth, equally delicious and messy. And third – stuffed peppers. Today for dinner we had green bell peppers stuffed with ground beef and rice in a potato and carrot stew. Rawan puts a bit of spicy ketchup on it (regular ketchup here has a bit of a barbeque kick to it), but I prefer it how it is – amazing. We do eat a lot of bread, potatoes, noodles and rice, but that’s just because it’s the cheapest. I consider it a specialty to have a chicken or other meat as the main dish. Other people have been to parties and weddings and have eaten horse (including horse meat cooked in its own colon), sheep (including sheep face), and goat (goat eyeball), but I haven’t had anything quite so adventurous… yet. All my fellow trainees say they’re inviting me along next time a big party happens. Speaking of parties, they have been the only time people have been offered any alcohol. We were warned that Kazakhstan is a vodka drinking country, and we were taught on the second day in Tabagan how to politely refuse alcohol in Russian. However, nearly everyone here is Muslim (at least by name, hardly any by practice) and I have yet to see any vodka except in a store. Once again, though, my friends have said they’ll invite me along next time. However, my mom will be proud I know how to say, “Spaseebah, ya nye pyoo.”