Food & Culture

A komuz tradition that never broke, a large Kyrgyz-language pop industry, a Bishkek jazz scene and a pagan metal band. What to…

Thousands of animals in a field before dawn on a Sunday. The mal bazar is the best thing you can do before…

Apricots, walnuts and beans are the one part of Kyrgyz agriculture that works. Why fruit succeeds where wool, herbs and gold all…

Restaurants with English menus are not where anyone local eats. Ashkana, stolovaya, chaikhana: four words that change what you can eat in…

Six conventions that are actually used every day: the greeting, the two-handed pass, the oomiyn gesture, shoes at the door, the half-full…

Emergency care is free and households still fund 42 per cent of health spending. How Kyrgyz healthcare is structured, what it guarantees…

816,600 pensioners, 1.46 million people paying in, and 98,000 fewer contributors than last year. How the Kyrgyz pension system works and what…