Dear students . . . about restaurants

So far I have had breakfast, lunch, and dinner here. Here are a few observations I have had:

• Breakfast is very different here!  This morning we were served things like salad (lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, with yogurt-mint dressing), roasted tomatoes, and lots of meat (sliced cold cuts, meat dumplings, and roasted and boiled sausages--beef and horse, no pork), along with familiar things like fruit and bread.
• Many restaurants serve what is called a "business lunch" here and in other former Soviet countries, and the history behind this is quite interesting.  During the socialist Soviet era, a big lunch was provided for workers at work.  This practice was very helpful, because many people did not have a lot of money, and this helped to keep them well-fed.  When the Soviet Union dissolved and private employers replaced the government, many workers still expected a big lunch to be provided.  However, this was too expensive for the employers, so restaurants stepped in and began serving a "business lunch" which was a big meal at a relatively low cost.  
• We ate dinner at an Uzbek-style restaurant, and they served many traditional dishes.  One was the famous dish "beshbarmak" which translates to "five fingers" because it used to be eaten with hands.  It has noodles and boiled meat; different kinds of meat can be used, and horse was served here.  They also served an interesting and tasty salad with potatoes, mild radishes, and horse meat all cut into matchstick-size pieces.  Since several of you have asked, I can tell you that horse meat did not taste very different from beef, but it was much more tender and lighter in color.