History and food.

The assortment of food groceries was changed slightly. During its long history Kazakhstan people gathered a huge experience in cooking dishes from meat and milk. And modern times filled it with a large range of vegetables, fruit, fish, sea stuff, baked, flour dishes and confectionery.

B ut still the most popular Kazakhstan national foodstuff is meat. From olden times Kazakh cookery was special due to its original technology. Some features of Kazakh people living left a mark on Kazakh style of food cooking. The traditional national Kazakhstan cookery is based on boiling. Exactly boiling helps to cook meat with a lot of delicate tastes, gives it softness and aroma.

Kazakh people placed high emphasis on long-term storage of foodstuff. A huge part of meat was prepared for future use being salted, dried. Delicatessen was cooked mainly from horse meat - kazi, shuzhuk, zhal, zhaya, karta and others. Milk and milk products were widely spread. The preference was for the sour milk products because it was easier to save it during nomadic life. Bread was usually made like cookies. The most popular baked dish is baursaki.

The ancient plates and dishes were made from leather, wood, and ceramics. Every family had cast-iron cauldron (kazan) for cooking. The tea was boiled in cast-iron jugs, later in samovars.

Food for religious and holiday celebrations.

Because the early nomads heavily depended on livestock for survival, animals were at the core of ancient Kazakh religion. Traditional beliefs held that separate spirits inhabited animals. Honored guests were sometimes asked to bless an animal and ask its spirit for permission to taste its f lesh.

Most Kazakhs of the twenty-first century are Sunni Muslims. The Islam religion did not become widely practiced until the late 1700s. This is because the nomads of that time settled in rural areas, and the Muslims worshiped in mosques that were in the cities. Muslims in Kazakhstan celebrate the Festival of Fast-Breaking (known as Id al-Fitr or Eid al-Fitr elsewhere), which is the day ending Ramadan. Ramadan is a month-long fast, where Muslims cannot eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. During the Festival of Fast-Breaking, Kazakh Muslims visit each other and hand out deep-fried dough twists and other fried doughnuts, such as baursaki, as a form of celebration.

• Collect the unknown words of all your teammates and yours. Fill this table with the information:

Word	I think it means……	I investigated it means…..

• Answer the questions:

1. Why is meat the most popular national foodstuff in Kazakhstan?

2. What kind of lifestyle did Kazakh people have in the past?

3. Do Kazakh people eat only their national food? Why?

4. How are guests treated in Kazakhstan?

5. What food do Kazakh people have for celebrations?

6. Do you know similar dishes cooked by peoples living in your country? Name them to your teammates.

• Discussion:

1. What kind of Kazakh food do you enjoy?

2. Do you think Kazakh food is healthy? Why or why not?

3. What food from your culture is found in the Kazakh diet?

• Project work:

Make a project “My favourite food”.