Kazakh national cuisine

The soul of the Kazakh people, their history, customs and traditions are reflected in specific methods of cooking and in the Kazakh national cuisine. Since ancient times the most distinctive feature of the Kazakhs has been hospitality.

First of all a guest was served with some dairy products - kumis, shubat or airan. Then, tea with milk or cream was given, accompanied with baursaks, raisin, irimshik and curt. Then followed dishes cooked from horse's meat or mutton – kazi, shuzhuk, zhal, zhaya, suret, karta, kabyrga. On every table there were flat cakes, special bread baked from flour.

The main decoration of the table was always meat. Boiled meat was usually served with whole large pieces.

Flavored meat is eaten with thinly rolled and boiled slices of dough. Meat broth is thought to be a perfect addition to the dish. It is usually served in pialla. In the end of the meal kumis is brought, and then tea follows again.

The Kazakh cooking technique is really original and unique. The life of the Kazakh people has greatly influenced the ways of cooking. In the traditional Kazakh cuisine the preference is always given to boiling.

The process of storing products for a long period is interesting too. Meat was specially prepared for storage. For this purpose meat was salted, jerked and sometimes smoked. Meat delicacies were usually made of horse's meat. Milk and other dairy products were widely used. The preference was given to sour dairy products, because it was easier to keep them well in the nomadic way of life. Bread was mainly baked as flat cakes, but baursaks were very popular.

National clothes

Kazakh national clothes have always been simple and rational. Clothes were common in their form and style for all sectors of the population, but there were some variations depending on certain social position and age. Clothes were decorated with fur, embroidery and ornaments. Leather, fur, thin felt and cloth were traditional materials for making clothes. Silks, brocade, cotton fabrics and velvet were widely used too. They showed a certain level of wealth and prosperity of its owner. The Kazakhs always valued skins and fur from animals. From them they made warm coats for winter.

Traditional women's hats are really very interesting. They were a sign of their marital status. The girls usually wore hats of two types - тақия or skull­cap and a warm cap with fur edging, trimmed with the fur of otter, fox and beaver. The most interesting among others is a Kazakh national female wedding cap.

Hats for men were various too. They wore different skull-caps, summer and winter caps.

In early years the male and female footwear did not differ from each other. They were high boots different for each season. There were some varieties between footwear for senior and young people. The youth preferred boots on high heels, senior used them on low or even without heels, which were called мәсі.

The street clothes of a woman and a man were shapans, a straight wide robe with long sleeves. According to a Kazakh tradition it is popular to give a shapan as a gift. As warm clothes people wore a coat made of sheep wool, a thick coat made of sheepskin and a covered fur coat. An obligatory part of men's clothes were belts from leather or cloth. Those who were wealthy had belts made of velvet and silk.