Yakutian Traditional Cuisine

As you already know, Yakutia is the coldest inhabited place in the world, so there aren't a lot of fresh vegetables, fruit, or anything else harvested from the ground. Yakutian food is influenced by our cold climate, where meat or fish is often eaten raw in a lightly frozen state and also, Yakutian cuisine generally relies heavily on dairy products, meat, fish, and foraged goods.

Stroganina

One of the best-known Yakutia dishes is stroganina. It’s a consisting of long, thin slices of frozen arctic river fish.

When it’s time to slice it, a person holds the fish vertically and carves off ribbons in long strokes using a Yakutian traditional birch-handled knife. The taste is very soft, fresh and frosty.

Frozen raw foal (horse) meat and liver

The history of the Yakutian horse is inseparable from the history of the Yakut people - they have long been engaged in nomadic cattle breeding. From all types of meats, only dairy foal is considered suitable for eating in a raw frozen form. Neither beef, nor elk, nor venison are suitable for the danger of contracting diseases.

So one of the Yakutian delicacy is a frozen raw dairy foal meat and liver. Raw and frozen meat helped Yakutian ancestors to survive in extreme conditions and now it’s one of the Yakutian cuisine delicacy.

Crucian carp

Crucian carp is one of my favourite Yakutian dish. We usually fry it and the most delicious, fatty and nutritious part is the fish roe.

Salamat with bread (appetizer)

An indispensable component of the festive table of the Yakutian people is salamat with Yakutian bread. Salamat is made of butter and flour similar to the sauce Bachamele. It’s the most fattiest Yakutian dish but it’s good to warm you up during our extremely cold winters.

Kyercheh (yakutian dessert and breakfast)

Yakutian desert is called Kyercheh made of whipped cream with frozen cowberries. Yakutian people harvesting wild berries during the summer and freeze for a long and cold winters, due to our harsh climate it is almost impossible to grow fruits and vegetables.

Kymis (yakutian drink)

Yakutian traditional drink is a fermented dairy product made from mare’s milk. It has a unique, slightly sour flavor with a bite from the mild alcoholic content. Kumis is usually served cold in a traditional Yakutian vessel for the drinking kumis.