11 articles
Foods
Food and drink of the steppe peoples.
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Ayran Soured milk drink of the Turkic peoples, in its older sense the buttermilk left in the churn. First recorded by Mahmud al-Kashgari in the 1070s. The dairy economy behind it is millennia older. - Bread Bread among the Turkic peoples. Mahmud al-Kashgari records in the 1070s the word ätmäk and breads baked in embers, in ashes, in the oven and in a kettle. Among the Kirghiz only the ruler served cakes.
- Grape Wine in Central Asia Wine pressed from grapes in the oases of Central Asia, recorded from Dayuan to Gaochang. Menander says the Roman envoys at Istemi's feast in 569 drank none, because the land bore no vine.
- Kamos minimal Barley drink of the villages in Attila's realm, recorded by Priscus in 449. Its name has been derived from the Turkic word for kumys, and traced to Pannonia before the Huns.
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Kumys Fermented mare's milk, the drink of the steppe peoples. The Chinese histories record it among the Gaoche, the Göktürks and the Kirghiz; Mahmud al-Kashgari gives its Turkic name in the 1070s. - Millet Grain of the steppe herders, the fastest-growing of the cereals. The Han sent it to the Xiongnu, the Rouran khan Anagui asked the Wei for seed, and the Kirghiz sowed and brewed it.
- Millet Beer Beer and liquor brewed from millet and other grain on the steppe. The Han sent malt liquor to the Xiongnu, the Kirghiz brewed their own millet, and Kashgari gives the Turkic names.
- Qurut Dried curd of the steppe herders, made from the milk of sheep, goats and cattle. It keeps and travels where fresh milk does not. Mahmud al-Kashgari records the word in the 1070s.
- Steppe Diet The food of the herding peoples of the steppe: the meat and milk of their animals, with game from the hunt. Chinese, Roman and Arabic writers describe it from the Xiongnu to the Kirghiz.
- Tea among the Uyghurs Tea as a good the Uyghurs took home from the Tang court in the eighth century. Their envoys drove fine horses to the court and went home with tea, as the Tang official Feng Yan recorded.
- Tutmaç Noodle dish of the Turkic peoples, eaten with its broth. Mahmud al-Kashgari records it in the 1070s as a well-known food of the Turks and explains its name with a story of Dhu'l-Qarnayn.
Image credits
- Ayran: Ayran sellers in the market of Aulie-Ata on the Talas river, the modern Taraz in Kazakhstan, photographed between 1865 and 1872 for the Turkestan Album. Photograph: Turkestan Album, ethnographic part, plate 105. Library of Congress, no known restrictions on publication.
- Kumys: Bowls of shubat, fermented camel milk (left), and kumis, fermented mare's milk (right). Photograph: Upyernoz, 2010, CC BY 2.0.
