The role of meat in life of Kazakhstan people
Each Kazakhstan national meal is the result of experience, that helped nomads adapt to the difficult life in the steppe, with its frosty winter and sometimes unbearably hot and dry summer. The ability to understand what is useful to eat in a particular season saved an entire nation, which created meals from a small assortment of available products that maximally preserve the entire set of useful properties and vitamins.
Almost 80% of Kazakh meals consist of meat, this is primarily due to the fact that most Kazakhs led a nomadic lifestyle. Agriculture was developed mainly only in some regions of Southern Kazakhstan. Since cows do not tolerate migration well and cannot get food under the snow and ice, beef is less represented in the diet of nomads. Horse meat and lamb prevail. The main ingredient of many meals is horse meat, which is distinguished by its high nutritional and biological value, excellent digestibility and low fat content.
Many meat products have a sacred meaning for the Kazakhs. For example, in ancient times, before a long separation from a loved one, they would prepare zhilik - a shin bone with meat, stored in a deep bowl with flour - as a sign that the house would be waiting for his speedy return. When the guest returned, a festive dish was prepared from it. From the heart of a young horse baked with fat tail fat and spices, also aged in flour, the Kazakhs prepared another unusual dish - ulpershek. Parents sent it to their married daughter as a sign of love and care even at a distance.
The most popular meat meals are:
- Kuyrdak - fatty and juicy roast with the addition of fresh meat and fat tail;
- Kazy - sausage made of horse meat, which can be find here;
- Shuzhyk - one more type of sausage made of horse meat, which can be found here and here;
- Kazakh style meat - meal made from tender beef and pasta shaped like lasagna, which can be found here;
- Beshbarmak - main meal, which described here.
