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The myth of Mongolian grills
Jul. 13th, 2003 06:38 amThis week, three different people have asked me about Mongolian grills, so I thought I'd fill you in. They don't have Mongolian grills in Mongolia. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go here http://www.fire-ice.com)
It is possible that this style of cooking exists in Inner Mongolia, which is part of China. I'm in Outer Mongolia, or the "real Mongolia."
There are several reasons why this style isn't used here. First, there really aren't a lot of vegetables. You can now obtain cucumbers and tomatoes almost anywhere in the country, due to greenhouse techniques that were passed on by the Koreans. In recent years, vegetables have begun to be imported from China and South East Asia. You can get most vegetables in Ulaan Baatar, but you can barely get any vegetables in the countryside. During the height of the SARS scare, it was hard to get vegetables in UB due to transportation problems. Interestingly enough, some groups (including some of the coops we visited) have begun cultivating vegetables as an alternative to livestock production. This is a fairly new development brought on by poverty. Of course, in some areas the soil is too sandy and hard and people can't grow anything.
Mongolians also don't use a lot of sauce on their food, which is just another way that the food differs from the Mongolian grill style. I think this is probably Chinese style food, but people just like to say it's Mongolian, because it's cool to be exotic. I have seen Mongolians use those huge woks, but they are usually using them to cook tea, or to boil noodles.
There's a new Mongolian grill restaurant in Saskatoon, which I went to before I came here. I asked the owner/waiter somebody there, why he wasn't serving Mongolian food and why Mongolian grill food was so different. He told me that the theme is that the food is "fresh." That sort of makes sense. In the countryside, people will usually slaughter a sheep and then eat it right away. I actually wanted to see people slaughter a sheep since it's done in a humane manner. The herders make a small incision, then reach in and grab the heart, causing the animal to die immediately. You can see this technique in the movie "Close to Eden."
Mongolian food is actually pretty close to Tibetan food. There is dumplings, fried noodles, lots of dairy, and flour, mutton, mutton and more mutton. Tibetan food is similar to Mongolian food. Tibetans eat a kind of dumpling called "momos" while Mongolians eat a kind of dumpling called "buuz."
I don't really care for Mongolian food, but I ate it in the countryside and have eaten a little in Ulaan Baatar. I find the diet hard to take, probably because I don't eat meat in Canada and I think the food is greasy, fatty and bland.
Mongolians think fat is a delicacy, so food often has big chunks of fat in it. Usually you can just pick them out.
I actually put a lot of consideration into dietary concerns before I decided to come here. I realized that if I came here, I'd have to eat meat, which I hadn't done for about 6 years. However, I made the decision to come and eat it, and I'm really glad I did. However, I've run into some tourists who are still balking at the meat option. If you stay in a country home, you pretty much have to eat meat, because the people just don't have anything else. In my opinion, I'd rather eat something I don't care for than insult the hospitality of my hosts.
However, seeing the meat heavy diet here has reinforced my own choice to avoid eating meat. I've met a lot of Mongolians with hypertension, and I've seen how the overgrown herds have damaged the Mongolian landscape. So I feel pretty comfortable with my decision to be a mostly non-meat eater.
***
The other day, Jen and I were talking about "Minute Rice". Both of us hate it and confessed that we would be turned off if someone made us a dinner that included "Minute Rice".
Henry said that this wasn't a bad thing. "You know, a guy that likes "Minute Rice" is likely to be a "minute man."
It is possible that this style of cooking exists in Inner Mongolia, which is part of China. I'm in Outer Mongolia, or the "real Mongolia."
There are several reasons why this style isn't used here. First, there really aren't a lot of vegetables. You can now obtain cucumbers and tomatoes almost anywhere in the country, due to greenhouse techniques that were passed on by the Koreans. In recent years, vegetables have begun to be imported from China and South East Asia. You can get most vegetables in Ulaan Baatar, but you can barely get any vegetables in the countryside. During the height of the SARS scare, it was hard to get vegetables in UB due to transportation problems. Interestingly enough, some groups (including some of the coops we visited) have begun cultivating vegetables as an alternative to livestock production. This is a fairly new development brought on by poverty. Of course, in some areas the soil is too sandy and hard and people can't grow anything.
Mongolians also don't use a lot of sauce on their food, which is just another way that the food differs from the Mongolian grill style. I think this is probably Chinese style food, but people just like to say it's Mongolian, because it's cool to be exotic. I have seen Mongolians use those huge woks, but they are usually using them to cook tea, or to boil noodles.
There's a new Mongolian grill restaurant in Saskatoon, which I went to before I came here. I asked the owner/waiter somebody there, why he wasn't serving Mongolian food and why Mongolian grill food was so different. He told me that the theme is that the food is "fresh." That sort of makes sense. In the countryside, people will usually slaughter a sheep and then eat it right away. I actually wanted to see people slaughter a sheep since it's done in a humane manner. The herders make a small incision, then reach in and grab the heart, causing the animal to die immediately. You can see this technique in the movie "Close to Eden."
Mongolian food is actually pretty close to Tibetan food. There is dumplings, fried noodles, lots of dairy, and flour, mutton, mutton and more mutton. Tibetan food is similar to Mongolian food. Tibetans eat a kind of dumpling called "momos" while Mongolians eat a kind of dumpling called "buuz."
I don't really care for Mongolian food, but I ate it in the countryside and have eaten a little in Ulaan Baatar. I find the diet hard to take, probably because I don't eat meat in Canada and I think the food is greasy, fatty and bland.
Mongolians think fat is a delicacy, so food often has big chunks of fat in it. Usually you can just pick them out.
I actually put a lot of consideration into dietary concerns before I decided to come here. I realized that if I came here, I'd have to eat meat, which I hadn't done for about 6 years. However, I made the decision to come and eat it, and I'm really glad I did. However, I've run into some tourists who are still balking at the meat option. If you stay in a country home, you pretty much have to eat meat, because the people just don't have anything else. In my opinion, I'd rather eat something I don't care for than insult the hospitality of my hosts.
However, seeing the meat heavy diet here has reinforced my own choice to avoid eating meat. I've met a lot of Mongolians with hypertension, and I've seen how the overgrown herds have damaged the Mongolian landscape. So I feel pretty comfortable with my decision to be a mostly non-meat eater.
***
The other day, Jen and I were talking about "Minute Rice". Both of us hate it and confessed that we would be turned off if someone made us a dinner that included "Minute Rice".
Henry said that this wasn't a bad thing. "You know, a guy that likes "Minute Rice" is likely to be a "minute man."
