Milk and dairying are an integral part of Mongolia’s cuisine, culture and customs. In pastoral society, dairy products such as aaruul (dried curds) and süütei tsai (milk tea) provide herders with important seasonal and perennial nutritional resources. Moreover, milk has many cultural connotations and the use of dairy products plays an important role in various rituals and festivities. Accordingly, traditions of dairying play a key-role in the history and present of mobile pastoralism in Mongolia.
Here, we will introduce you to various processes of Mongolian pastoral dairying as well as to some of the manifold Mongolian cultural practices that involve milk and dairy products.
