Hello everyone! It’s Julia. I just finished my ninth week in Tajikistan, and I’m so excited to share everything I’ve learned with you!
I've been a vegetarian for a long time, which has made exploring Tajik food especially interesting. Traditional Tajik dishes often contain a lot of meat, so finding vegetarian options can be challenging!
During my first week in Tajikistan, I lived with a host family. They had never met someone who didn't eat meat before! Because breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the family normally included meat, my host mom had to get very creative.
Since then, I've had the opportunity to try many different foods, learn about traditional cooking methods, and discover how food is connected to Tajik culture and the local environment.
One day, my host mom made mantu, traditional Tajik dumplings. Mantu are typically filled with ground meat and onions, but she made me a special vegetarian version filled with pumpkin instead!
She also prepared a vegetarian version of one of Tajikistan's most famous national dishes, osh (also called plov in Russian). Osh is a delicious rice dish traditionally made with meat, carrots, onions, and oil.
After leaving my host family, I had to start cooking for myself.
