Atyrau, Kazakhstan
We attempt to cross the Kazakhstan border at midnight, only to find a moat separating Kazakhstan and Russia. Since the ferry doesn’t run until morning, we camp in no man’s land, supervised by a guard with a shiny gun. When we arrive in Atyrau, we go to a hotel to wash off days of road dust. Then we hit a supermarket, and I come face to face with kumis.
In Kazakhstan, horses are used equally for transportation and sustenance. Kazakhs have developed a taste for both horse flesh and horse milk. I have not yet worked up the gumption to consume horse flesh, but I’m willing to try the latter, which is called kumis.
“I wonder if they have special flavors, like Essence of Seabiscuit?” I muse, grabbing a bottle featuring cartoon horses happily grazing in green pastures. For comparison, Mims selects a bottle of fermented goat milk. I am excited and terrified. Mongol Rally founder Tom Morgan once told me that the only food he couldn’t stomach on his Mongolian trek was fermented horse milk.
“I nearly gagged,” he said.
To avoid psyching myself out, I crack open the horse milk as soon as I return to the car. A bit of carbonation escapes. I pinch my nose and take a taste.
The beverage is acrid and sour, with palate-confusing bubbles.
“It’s like Champagne mixed with sour cream,” Mims says as he also takes a gulp. Then Andrew tries it and vows, “Never, never, never again.”
After cooling off with refreshing kumis, we return to our hotel. It’s literally located on the wrong side of the tracks, next to housing projects and dirt roads. The hotel is fronted by tacky plastic palm trees; one of the few shows available on TV is a call-in phone-sex program.
Kumiss, known in Mongolia as Airag, can be delightful (usually) or dreadful (sometimes.) The best way to enjoy it is to find friendly nomads with a large well kept horse herd and a clean home, which will be a ger or yurt. Get yourself invited inside. They are very welcoming. Then Airag is fresh, tart, creamy, fizzy and refreshing, rather like a mix of cream, buttermilk and lemonade. Although it is fermented, you would need to drink about 10 liters to get any reasonable buzz – that is not the purpose. Camel airag on the other hand is an acquired taste, as it has floating lumps of camel cream which are quite pungent and have a flavor reminiscent of the rear approach to the camel. Go for the horse.
Be broad minded. Why would horse be any more awful than cow?
If you don’t like the drink, don’t try the dried goat yoghourt curds, whatever you do.
Is it like kefir?