The published cookbook with updated traditional dish recipes in Kyrgyzstan is one of the outputs of a joint collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, the partner-organization “Roza Otunbayeva Initiative” and the national beneficiaries in Suzak district of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The idea of the book came from the fact that traditional cuisine is considered a key part of the cultural heritage of any nation. All phases, from land preparation and harvesting to the cooking process itself, helps to transfer knowledge and strengthen social relationships. Despite the fact that traditional dishes play a special role in the life of Kyrgyz people, worryingly, not all of them can be considered healthy and nutrient. Indeed, the abundance of flour ingredients, potatoes, rice and fatty meat not only makes the diet quite monotonous, but also reduces the value of traditional foods for health, which leads to malnutrition or to overweight.

Having considered that, a culinary experiment took place for proving that traditional dishes can be made healthy and eating habits can be improved in in Suzak district, in Kyrgyzstan. The efforts were directed towards updating and renovating the culinary knowledge of the most vulnerable people living in rural area through the development of an innovative approach to food production, processing and consumption. This was initiated under the FAO pilot titled “Productive Social Contract/Cash Plus” to support households with children to introduce small-scale nutrition-sensitive agriculture through advisory services and nutrition education.

The beneficiary households learned how to grow a variety of healthy vegetables in their gardens and to preserve them for the winter through provided trainings on nutrition aspects. They also gained knowledge about the importance of a varied food ration for the health of family members. Having improved their knowledge on nutrient food, the beneficiaries took a lead to modify some recipes of traditional dishes under the guidance of national specialists of the pilot and its partners. Previously familiar, but not often used, ingredients such as broccoli, eggplant, cauliflower, spinach, lentils and chickpeas added to the famous dishes: lagman, shorpo and dymliama.  

The cookbook is now available for downloading and consulting here. 

The pilot is an integral part of  the FAO project “Developing Capacity for Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition in Selected Countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia’’ that funded by the Russian Federation. The project is to strategically mediate the challenges in the country and promote cross-sectoral collaboration by providing adequate capacity to effectively pursue and manage coherence between agriculture, nutrition, health, education and social protection sectors.