TATAR CUISINE
TATAR CUISINE
The cuisine of Volga Tatars
ORIGIN
The
Tatars are a Turkic people
living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederations.
The name "Tatar" first
appears in written form on the Kul
Tigin monument.The Tatars formed the Turkic-speaking population of
Tartary—the lands ruled by Mongol
élites.The largest group by far that the Russians have called
"Tatars" are the Volga Tatars,
who for this reason are often also simply known as "Tatars.”
INTRODUCTION
Tatar
cuisine is primarily the cuisine of the Volga Tatars, who live in Tatarstan,
Russia, and surrounding areas.The cuisine takes its origin from the cuisine of
the Volga Bulgars, who once were nomads, but nearly 1500 years ago
turned to agriculture and assimilated into local agricultural societies.The
Tatar cuisine relies heavily on the main agricultural products of the region –
cereals and livestock
CLIMATE
GEOGRAPHY
REGIONS AFFECTING THE
CUISINE
The Caucasus Mountains are usually considered the
dividing line between Asia and Europe, with the northern region of the Caucasus
in Europe; and the southern in Asia.
Thus, the cuisine of Tatar has a good influence of the Asian Countries.
The Volga is the longest river in Europe; it is
also Europe's largest river in terms of discharge and watershed. It flows
through Central Russia and into the Caspian Sea, and is widely
viewed as the national river of Russia. The river feeds the cuisine with fresh seafood
and livestock.
CULTURE
AND LANGUAGES
FESTIVALS
The Tatars has
been very proficient in jewelry, textile, embroidery and leather crafting from
a very early stage. All these decorative and applied arts have the same common
elements.Multiple shapes, forms, silhouettes of buds, stems, petals, rosettes
and tulips determine the surface of the artworks. Floral bouquets, young
sprouts, leaves, and flower-sun motif are especially popular in boot designs. Lines,
waves, spirals, zigzags, six or eight point stars – all of these interlace and
create intricate, arabesque designs.
TATAR CUISINE
The cuisine of the Volga Tatars takes its
origin from the cuisine of the Volga Bulgars. Tatars cuisine was
influenced by the surrounding people- Russian, Mari, Udmurts
and also people of central Asia especially Uzbeks.Dishes such as pilaw(pilaf),
halvah, and sherbet entered long ago into the Tatar culture.The
Tatar became acquainted early in their history with rice tea dried fruits
walnuts seasoning and spices.Cattle and sheep provided beef and mutton,
both equally popular among the Tatars. Horse meat was eaten boiled,
salted, and cured.Poultry was
widespread in local farms and eggs were
a popular dish, eaten in various form.
LOCAL
PRODUCE
Local
vegetables included onions, carrot, horseradish, turnips, pumpkins, beets and
in small quantities also cucumbers and cabbage.Fruits weare mainly grown in
orchards on the right bank of volga, including local apple, cherries,
raspberries, and currantsThe forest were source for wild berries, walnuts,
hops, cow parsnip, sorrel, mint and common wild leeks.Milk was used
primarily in dairy products – curd, sour cream, etc.
COURSES
Dishes in tatar cuisine can be
subdivided into the following categories:
•
Hot soup
•
Main course
•
Baked items with a savory filling
•
Dough-based dishes(pasta)
•
Sweet baked items and other sweets usually served with tea.
Soup
•
Depending on the broth used as the soup base,
soups are divided into meat, chicken, fish vegetable, mushrooms etc.
•
The soup may be thickened with noodles, grain,
or vegetables-separately or in combination
•
Soups are often served with meat balls or
stuffed buns.
•
Festive and to a certain extent ceremonial dish
for the tatar is pilman, a kind of dumpling filled with meat and always served
in a clear soup.
Main course
•
Main dishes are usually based on, meat, grains,
and potatoes.
•
Meat or chicken boiled in the broth in the broth
is cut into small pieces and served as a main course, sometimes quickly
fried in oil with onions, carrots, and
bell peppers.
•
Boiled potatoes are a favorite side dish, with
grated horseradish served as an accompaniment.
•
Balis is the oldest traditional dish
combining meat and grains. Pilaw is served at dinner parties, especially
in city.
•
Horse meat is used to make sausages;
cured goose and duck are considered a delicacy. Poultry eggs,
primarily those of chicken are a very popular dish in tatar cuisine. A chicken
stuffed with eggs in milk is a special dish for holiday.
•
Grains are made into a variety of porridges:
millet, buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, meat etc.
Baked foods
•
Unleavened dough is traditionally used for buns,
both sweet, and savory, flat breads, and biscuits. Leavened yeast dough is used
to make bread, which is always served with milk.
•
Bread was traditionally baked from rye flour,
and only the wealthy could afford wheat bread. Qabartma is a kind of
yeast dough pancakes that may be prepared in different ways-baked in a pan in
front of an open oven fire, or fried in boiling oil in a cauldron.
•
Pancakes are made from unleavened batter using
wheat flour.
•
The oldest and simplest baked item with a savory
filling are specific for tatar cuisine is kuzikmak.
•
Another traditional tatar pie is ocpocmaq
a triangula rshell originally filled with a mixture of fatty meat and onions. A
special festive dish among urban Kazan Tatars is gobadia.
Sweets
•
The tatar cuisine offers a variety of baked
sweets, usually served with tea-celpek, qatlama, qos tele, lawas, pastet.
• Chakchak is used to be a ceremonial food
brought by the bride to the reception at the bridegroom’s home.
•
Today it is a common sweet
•
Honey is very popular in baking and on its own,
served with tea.
Beverages
•
Aryan is a dairy drink made by diluting
qatiq with cold water.
•
Quas is a beverage made from rye flour
and malt that the Tatars have borrowed from Russian
•
A kompot of dried apricots is a popular
dessert at dinner parties
•
Another non-alcoholic sweet beverage is sherbet
made from honey
•
Tea is typical hospitality beverage among the
Tatars.
•
They drink hot, strong tea, usually with milk
Modern Tatar Cuisine
•
Economic and cultural changes have introduced
many new dishes, enriching the traditional cuisine.
•
More fruits and vegetables are now used than
traditionally.
•
Fish has become more popular, mushrooms,
tomatoes, and pickles are in common use.
•
The opening up of international trade had given
access to fruits and vegetables that are previously regarded as exotic, i.e;
bananas, kiwi, mango, eggplant, etc
•
National cuisine of other peoples of the former
soviet union, especially the Russian cuisine have influenced the modern eating
habits of the tatar.
CONCLUSION
•
Tatar cuisine is an interesting cuisine
influenced by a variety of cultures which coexist in Tataristan, resulting in
an interesting blend of flavors, textures, tastes and ingredients. Foods include-
•
Food include Belesh (soup) Pilaw
(boiled meat) Chakchak (honey cake). Tatar cuisine is rich with hot soups
(şulpa), dough-based dishes (qistibi, pilmän, öçpoçmaq) and sweets
(çäkçäk, göbädiä). Traditional Tatar drinks include ayran, katyk
and kumys. Lamb and rice play a prominent role in the traditional Tatar
diet. Chebureki (fried lamb dumplings) Peremech (meat pie).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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