As with other Turkic groups, foods made from milk and milk products are common among the Kyrgyz as well. Besides ayran and yogurt, the most popular one of these is kımız, made from mare’s milk. Kımız is not merely a means of sustenance; it is one of the most important drinks of the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs as well, imbued with cultural values and mystical beliefs.

In the spring and summer months, when milk is abundant, yogurt is drained and salted to preserve it; this is called kurul, and many similar variations are to be found in Anatolia (süzme, kurut). A local type of lor cheese (a fresh curd) is also common during this time. Other milk products include a cooling drink called çalap, an unsalted cheese eaten a few days after it’s made called bıştak, a special drained cheese made from sheep’s milk called ecegey, sarı may (melted butter) and kaymak (cream).

The cooking of those Kyrgyz who farm is dominated by grain-based dishes. These include the very popular boorsok made from dough fried in sheep fat, a coal-baked bread called kömöç, a type of multilayered pide cooked with cream and butter called katlama, another type of pide cooked in butter called maytokoç, and a type of gözleme, or thin stuffed pancake, called kuymak.

In the Talas Valley in the south of Kyrgyzstan the dominant foods are those made with corn, which is much raised here. Çöreks made with milk, butter and sugar are served with tea.

As with other Turkic peoples, tea has an important place as one of the most common drinks. In the North, where winters are quite severe, tea is the basic beverage, valued for its warming qualities. This salted tea, known as  kuurma çay, is made with a mixture of milk and water, with the addition of flour fried in butter, and is very nutritious.

In South, tea is sometimes made with the addition of milk, butter and pepper, and is called şir çay or ak çay (milk tea or white tea), as well as kalmuk çay.

This tea, made by nomadic Kyrgyz, more closely resembles a hearty satisfying soup than our familiar tea. During the summer months, kök çay (green tea) is preferred in South Kyrgyzstan.

In addition to pide and boorsok, tea is served with butter, cream, dried fruit, sweets and honey. In some areas, including the shores of Issık Göl, tea is drunk with lightly salted fresh milk. Other drinks include the carma mentioned above, and a type of boza, a thick fermented drink made in winter from corn or barley, with the addition of malt and flour.

As the basic economy of the Kyrgyz is based on animal husbandry, meat has an important place in their meals. Horse meat is held in high esteem and is very common. In addition to horse meat, mutton, beef and wild game are also common.

Boiled mutton is the most popular of the meat dishes. Şorpo is salted meat broth with pieces of meat. Ak serke, or meat browth with kımız or ayran is quite poular. But as with the Kazakhs, the favorite food is beşparmak. Beşparmak is a type of homemade pasta in meat broth, and is recommended to all foreigners visiting Kyrgyzstan.

Sheep’s lungs boiled in water with added milk and butter is known as kuygan, öpkö or olobo. Horse meat sausage, or cucuk, made with meat and caul fat, is considered to be one of the most delicious dishes.

Among the Kyrgyz living in the Pamir Mountains, we come across a method of preparing meat which is common with the Turks of Northern Cyprus as well as Macedonia. A sheep is slaughtered and its internal organs are removed, but its skin is left on. Its tail is placed inside the cavity and this is sewn shut. The sheep is covered with earth, and a fire is lit above it and kept burning for a certain amount of time. In this way all the body of the sheep retains all its juices and fat. Meat is also occasionally prepared in another way: After the internal organs are removed, the carcass is placed into a pit with hot coals, and a fire is lit above it in order to form a generous bed of coals. The pit is then covered very carefully so as to keep dirt and stones out. The next day the cooked carcass is removed and the soot is removed with knives. Sometimes salt and pepper is added; in southern Kyrgyzstan rice is added as well.

There is one more way to prepare a sheep, known as taşkordo. In this method, the internal organs are removed but the skin is left on, and the carcass is cooked whole with hot stones. It is safe to assume that all of these cooking methods extend back to the old lifestyle of hunting and nomadic animal husbandry.

The distribution of meat when serving guests follows a particular ceremony, the basis of which is “honor.”

Among the Sarıbağış and Solto tribes in the North, the most honorable part of the animal is the head. On the other hand the kidneys, which are not honored, are considered equivalent to the other tasty parts of the animal. The degree of “honor” of one or another part of the meat depends on whether it is mutton or horse meat. In addition, the pieces considered honorable for men are not given to women.

As we see here, for the Kyrgyz, whose society is based on animal husbandry, eating is seen not only in terms of physical satisfaction but is also imbued with a host of cultural considerations. Thus Kyrgyz society presents a wealth of material for the anthropologist studying food culture.

Parallel to their social life, Kyrgyz cooking contains a wide variety of special occasion dishes. The changes in nature, the variety of foods produced, holy months and days, milestones in life and similar events are the basic dynamic behind this variety. Among these occasions, “Nevruz” or spring equinox, symbolizing the end of winter and beginning of spring, when nature revives and production/reproduction begins again, holds special significance for the Kyrgyz.