Every language and culture has its own way of describing tastes and flavors, some simpler or more complex than others, and some structured quite differently than others.  In Kyrgyz, rather than describing food in terms based on the parts of the tongue that taste the different flavors, or with individual words for specific attributes, taste is broadly described in three main groups.

I mainly use Cyrillic to write Kyrgyz in this post.  If you need to brush up on your Cyrillic, take a look at my guide to Kyrgyz Cyrillic.

In English and in the US, we generally divide tastes into sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy, and umami, based on what’s in the food, and the specifics of the flavor and how it makes our mouth feel.  Hot peppers are spicy, coffee is bitter, sour candies are sour, sugar is sweet, and meat has umami flavors.

Kyrgyz keeps this very simple: there are three characteristics used to describe food: whether it has flavor or none, whether it is sweet or savory, and whether it causes you to open your mouth or not (this will make more sense in a second).  The first two are considered positive flavors, while the latter is usually considered a negative attribute.

Firstly, we have the flavor, which in Kyrgyz is даам (daam).  Food that is flavorful is said to be даамдуу.  This word is used to mean tasty, delicious, yummy, and all other sorts of generally positive words used to describe savory foods.  Thus, I frequently find myself saying “бул тамак абдан даамдуу” which means “this food is very tasty.”

Second, there is whether a food is sweet or not.  In the north, sweet is таттуу (ta’ttoo), while in Osh and the South, it is ширин (sheereen), which is a loanword from Uzbek/Tajik/Farsi.  For pastries, candies, and other foods, if they are delicious, we describe them as “sweet.”  For example, “бул торт абдан ширин экен,” which means “I find this cake very sweet” in the southern dialect (which uses the “discovery mood” that roughly translates to “it turns out,” “I find,” “it so happens that” very frequently, and is marked by the word экен).

Sweet is also used in the phrase which means “bon appétit.”  To say this, we say “тамакыңыздар таттуу болсун,” which means “may your food be sweet.”  If we remember my lesson on pronouns, you’ll notice that I left тамакыңыздар in the formal plural tense, which is how a server might address her customers.  For language practice, how might I say that to only one person formally and informally?

Finally, there’s the third flavor, which is usually considered negative except in certain situations.  This flavor is called ачуу (achoo), which is a blanket term that covers spicy, sour, bitter, and a variety of other flavors that are piquant for reasons that are not related to carbohydrates and protein.  Ачуу comes from a root, ач, that means “open,” and you’ll notice that all of those flavors generally make one open one’s mouth to breathe, especially spicy.  In fact, ачуу refers to spicy so frequently (in both a positive sense and a negative sense) that locally-made hot sauces are often just called ачоо, using the term as a noun.  Because spices weren’t traded very frequently on the Silk Road, there are very few spices used in cooking here besides salt, dill, and the occasional hot pepper, so people are much more sensitive to spice than people in the US.  But, just as many people love it, and many, including my host family, frequently eat raw garlic (which is also considered ачоо, even in cuisines that eat a lot of it!).

So, now that you know these flavors, I’m going to teach you a couple useful phrases that you can use when you sit down to dinner with a local family.

This food is very delicious! – “бул тамак абдан даамдуу экен!”
This [dessert] is very delicious! – “бул ____ абдан ширин экен!”
Is this food spicy? – “бул тамак ачуу бекен?”
Yes, I find it spicy. – “ооба, ачоо экен.”
Bon appétit (singular formal) – “тамакыңыз таттуу болсун!”

You’ll notice that I include the “discovery” mood on these, because taste and food is a great example of when this mood is appropriate to use.  As I mentioned early, all you have to do is add “экен” to the end of your statement.  You can also use it to talk about things you learned today, new information, facts, and things that surprise you.  If you pass through Osh, be sure to listen for it, because it’s very frequently used here!  The question form of this is also irregular – you can say “эленби?” or “бекен?” to indicate a question.

Got questions about taste and flavor?  Looking forward to trying some Kyrgyz food in your community? Let me know in the comments!