My
name is Natalya Pak. I am an intern at the KWTC after having finished
my Master's degree at the University of Kentucky's Patterson School
of Diplomacy and International Commerce. I am Korean, but was
born and raised in the Muslim country of Uzbekistan. I am very
happy to have an opportunity to share with you this part of my
culture.
The
theme that I would like to touch on in this article is related
to our traditional food and everything related to it.
In
Uzbekistan, lamb plays an important role in our daily diet. It
is often eaten on a kebab or the SHASHLIKS. Another main Uzbek
national dish is PLOV. This includes lamb, beef, or chicken with
rice, carrots, onions and spices to make up the main ingredients
of the dish. It is then fried and steamed. The ideal way to eat
this dish is to use fingers, yes, fingers. Most Uzbek people still
eat this dish with the fingers. But don't worry, if you order
PLOV in a restaurant it will be served with a spoon.
Another
important part of the meal is LEPESHKA. This wheat bread is often
eaten with most meals. The round-shaped bread is supposed to be
baked in a TANDIR (Uzbek oven). An interesting and very important
thing about LEPESHKA is that when eating it, you only break off
enough bread to eat with your meal. Leaving LEPESHKA bread on
your plate is considered both rude and offensive.
In
Uzbekistan we don't have lettuce, so when ordering a salad you
will receive a variation of potato, egg etc, that would more closely
resemble American sandwich salads. As Uzbekistan is considered
to be an agricultural country our fruits and vegetables are really
tasty and always organic.
When
you think about desserts in Uzbekistan it is usually fresh fruit,
dried fruit or different oriental nuts. However, lately cakes
have become a common dessert as well. We have one very popular
dessert that is called KHALVA. The main ingredients of this dessert
are sunflower seeds and sugar.
There
is one more important note about desserts is that it is served
with hot tea. It is not common to have iced-tea, water or soda
for dessert.
