Hot dishes
- Beshbarmak — the main festive dish: thin homemade noodles with boiled mutton and onion. The name means "five fingers" — it used to be eaten by hand.
- Lagman — hand-pulled noodles with meat and vegetables, served in broth or fried.
- Plov — rice with carrots and meat cooked in a kazan, a common dish at celebrations.
- Kuurdak — fried meat with potatoes and onion, a shepherd's favourite.
- Shorpo — a rich meat soup, the best remedy after a cold night in a tent.
- Manty — large steamed dumplings with minced meat and onion.
Baked goods
- Samsa — flaky pastries baked in a tandoor, filled with meat or pumpkin.
- Boorsok — pieces of fried dough. They're always scattered across the dastarkhan, the festive table.
- Lepyoshka — round flatbread. It's broken by hand, never cut.
Drinks to try at least once
- Kumis — sour, fizzy fermented mare's milk. In season from late spring to autumn. If you're not used to it, start with one bowl.
- Maksym — a dark, slightly fizzy grain drink. Wonderfully thirst-quenching.
- Chalap — a salty fermented-milk drink, similar to ayran.
- Tea — drunk in large amounts, often with milk. The host fills your bowl only halfway: it means they want to keep topping it up for you again and again.
What to take on the trail
- Kurut — hard salty balls of dried fermented cheese. Light, they don't spoil, and they give you energy on the climb.
- Mountain honey — fragrant, sold at Bishkek's markets.
- Herbal tea — dozens of medicinal herbs grow in the gorge; locals dry them and brew them.
A tip for vegetarians
Being vegetarian in the mountains isn't easy: almost every dish contains meat. Bring your own food or ask at cafés in advance about meat-free dishes.