Vegetarian in Uzbekistan: What to Order and What to Say

Plov cooked in mutton fat, shashlik, meat samsa, manti: the first things that come to mind about Uzbek food are clearly not vegetarian. But if you know what to look for and how to explain your restrictions, you can eat well in any city. Bazaars piled high with vegetables and fruit, good baking, dairy products and seasonal dishes that locals themselves cook without meat all help.

The main challenge: broth and fat

In Uzbekistan, without meat is often understood as without pieces of meat. A soup may be made with meat stock, vegetables stewed in tail fat, and a pumpkin pastry may have fat added for juiciness. This is not bad intent; it is simply how things are traditionally cooked. So it is important to ask not only about meat, but also about the stock and the fat.

If you are a strict vegetarian, rely on dishes that do not need meat at all: salads, baked goods, dairy and fruit. Order hot dishes where you can actually talk to the cook.

What to order in cafes and teahouses

• Achichuk: a salad of tomatoes, onion and herbs. Served almost everywhere.
• Shakarob: a similar salad, sometimes with pepper and cucumber.
• Radish salad, carrot salad, aubergine: common starters in restaurants.
• Pumpkin samsa (oshqovoq somsa): an autumn and winter option; ask whether tail fat was added.
• Herb samsa (ko'k somsa): in spring, with young greens.
• Herb kutab: thin flatbreads stuffed with greens, found in many cafes.
• Meatless mastava or moshkhurda: rice and mung bean soups, made to order if the cook agrees.
• Fried vegetables and potatoes: many cafes will make them on request.
• Flatbread: in every form and every city.

Dairy: a reliable source of protein

Fermented dairy is a strong point of Uzbek cuisine and a lifesaver for vegetarians:

• suzma: thick strained yoghurt, eaten with bread and herbs;
• katyk: sour milk, served with samsa and plov;
• chalop: a cold soup of katyk with cucumber and herbs, a summer favourite;
• kaymak: thick clotted cream, a breakfast classic;
• kurt: salty dried balls, a handy snack on the road.

Seasonal greens and sumalak

In spring, around Navruz, people across the country bake samsa and kutab with young greens and cook sumalak, a sweet, thick paste made from sprouted wheat. It is a great time to be a vegetarian here: there is more green food on the table than at any other time.

The bazaar is your best restaurant

At any bazaar you can put together a full meat-free lunch: bread, cheese or suzma, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, nuts, dried fruit and seasonal fruit. In summer that means melons, watermelons, peaches and grapes; in autumn, pomegranates and persimmons. Dried fruit and nuts travel well.

Big bazaars to know: Chorsu in Tashkent, Siab in Samarkand and the old-town markets of Bukhara.

Sweets with tea

Desserts in Uzbekistan are almost always meat-free and suit vegetarians: halva, parvarda, navat (crystallised sugar), dried apricots, raisins, sugared nuts and chak-chak. In a teahouse it is customary to order a plate of sweets and dried fruit with your pot of tea, and that is plenty for a light snack between sights.

Useful phrases

In cities Russian is understood almost everywhere, but an Uzbek phrase usually earns a smile and more attention to your request. You can also save this table on your phone and show it to the waiter.

Where it is easiest

• Tashkent: plenty of cafes with European and international menus where vegetarian items are marked.
• Samarkand and Bukhara: in tourist areas restaurants are used to foreign guests and often cook without meat on request.
• Guesthouses: the easiest place to explain your needs, and hosts often cook specially for guests.
• Small towns: less choice, so rely on baked goods, dairy and the bazaar.

Tips for the road

1. Mention your restrictions in advance, especially if you book dinner at a guesthouse.
2. If in doubt, repeat your request twice: when ordering and when the dish arrives.
3. Carry nuts, dried fruit and bread: on long journeys the choice at roadside cafes is limited.
4. Meatless plov exists, but it is more of a home-cooked version; plov centres usually do not make it.

On the road to Bukhara

The drive from Tashkent to Bukhara takes around six to seven hours, and roadside cafes mostly serve shashlik and plov. So stock up on snacks at the bazaar before you leave. If you travel by shared ride on Tashkent to Bukhara with Yo'ldosh, you can message the driver in the app beforehand and agree on a short stop at a bazaar or fruit stalls. More about travelling as a passenger is on the for passengers page.

Cover photo: Nurken, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.