National cuisine and culinary traditions are part of the culture of each nation, reflecting its history, way of life and interaction with other cultures. It promotes the development of gastronomic tourism and is a pleasant bonus of visiting the country for any other purpose, when it is interesting to try something new and delicious.
In this regard, the Turkmen cuisine can give you previously unknown opportunities and unforgettable impressions. It is believed that the distinctive feature of Turkmen cuisine has always been the unusual substantiality of dishes and the relative simplicity of their preparation, while they are often original and different from the dishes of related peoples.
Huge desert areas with separate oases historically determine the Turkmens’ occupation of cattle breeding and the formation of a nomadic lifestyle, which promote the fact that meat and milk became the main food products.
The daily menu of the population included mutton, goat meat, camel meat, less often beef that appeared later and poultry that was brought home by men skilled in hunting. Unlike other Central Asian peoples, the Turkmens never ate horse meat, as they had a special relationship with their famous horses, which were considered as family members.
Various meat dishes are cooked mainly from natural meat, but the Turkmens in the past had their own ways of preserving and storing it, which are not found in the neighboring peoples of the region. One of them is drying meat in the wind under the scorching sun. This dry-desiccated meat is called “Kakmach”.
Among all the Central Asian cuisines, only the Turkmen cuisine in a number of regions, especially those adjacent to the Caspian Sea, widely uses fish in the nutrition.
Turkmen cuisine is significantly different from other dishes in terms of fat content. It is much more widely used melted tailed fat, melted butter from camel milk (sary yag) is common, and sesame oil is popular, which is used in the preparation of both meat and fish, as well as flour and sweet dishes.
Milk cow’s and sheep’s, goat’s and camel’s is used both in natural and processed form. The original Turkmen dairy products agaran (cream) and chal (healthy soft drink) are obtained from camel milk.
A large place in the Turkmen cuisine is occupied by a variety of flour products, because Turkmenistan is the birthplace of ak bugdai (white wheat), and even there is the only Wheat Museum in the world, located in the city of Anau, the administrative center of the Akhal region of the country.
It was there, in 1904, led by the American Raphael Pampelli, an archaeological expedition found wheat grains, whose age is 5 thousand years.The museum contains not only these grains, but also stone grain grinders (2nd thousand BC), hand millstones (3rd 2nd thousand BC), a churn for extracting oil from sesame seeds, figurines of the goddesses of fertility (Namazga-Depe, 4th thousand BC), a bronze hoe (2nd thousand BC), an arrowhead, a bronze knife (3rd 2nd thousand BC), fragments of ceramic dishes with monochrome and polychrome drawings and other interesting exhibits.
Among the flour products, the main one, of course, is “churek”. This national flatbread, which usually has a round shape, resembles the sun, and this is another greeting from the past, when zaroostrism was born on the country’s current territory.
Bread is baked from different types of dough as in special kilns-tamdyrs so in public or private bakeries.Various unleavened and sweet tortillas, which are fried at home in vegetable oil or fat, are also popular.
The dough is fried and baked with a variety of fillings, often of meat, pumpkin or spinach, and among the most popular pies are “gutaps”.
Dumplings “borek” or home-made noodles “unash” are cooked from unleavened dough. Some flour products, such as “chelpek”, have a special meaning and are prepared for a certain festivity.
Sweets in traditional Turkmen cuisine are similar to the typical products of the entire region: these are “halva”, “sherbet”, “nabat”, “toshop”, for the preparation of which sugar or fruit juices are used. Sweet pastries are represented by “kulche” cakes, sweet “pishme” fried in oil and “chapada” crumpets are popular.
The main drink in Turkmenistan is green tea, although in some areas black tea is also drunk, including with various additives.Already in modern history, the local mineral water Berzengi has become very popular, as well as a wide range of juices and soft drinks.
The country also produces various local, mainly dessert, wines from a huge variety of grapes, which, thanks to their unique bouquet and aroma, have gained popularity not only among Turkmen citizens, but also wide recognition at international competitions.
During the historical development of the Turkmen people, its cuisine included various vegetables and fruits, pasta and confectionery, fish, meat and canned vegetables.
Today, the country’s restaurants and cafes offer not only such traditional Turkmen dishes as dograma, yarma and pilaf, but also a wide range of dishes from different countries of the world from Italian pizza to Japanese sushi.
Restaurants of Turkmen cuisine are also opening abroad in Turkey, Russia and other countries. Internet sites, for example, One Turkmen Kitchen also present photos and recipes of Turkmen dishes.