Editorial Introduction

Kazakhstan Food Collection

Kazakhstan's table is built for guests. Beshbarmak arrives on one wide platter to be eaten together, manti steam under a cloth, shashlik comes off the coals in the heat of summer, and baursak is piled in a bowl beside tea that is refilled before the cup is ever empty. Sourness runs through it all — kurt, suzbe, fermented milk — alongside tandyr-baked bread that is torn, never cut.