Tajikistan

Raquel, Robert, and I were in Boulder, Colorado for one of Robert’s college tours. Looking for lunch, Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse popped up on my phone. It turns out that Boulder and Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, have a sister city agreement. Various artists from Dushanbe built an authentic teahouse for Boulder with carved columns and decorative panels on the walls and ceiling. The Tajik shish kabob (shashlik) with a skewer of lamb, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes, served with plov rice, dried fruit, and raita was delicious. Raquel complemented the tea. For the story of the teahouse and pictures of the beautiful art, see here: https://www.boulderteahouse.com/history-of-the-teahouse

I’m happy that I found something authentic to Tajikistan in Colorado as my attempts in California were only notable for being in the neighborhood. Nursel in San Carlos advertises themselves as from Central Asia and I found a review that compares them to Tajikistan, but the owners are actually from Kyrgyzstan, right next door. I ate there with Mom, Dad, and Suzy. The chef was kind and made modifications to the tomato salad, the carrot salad, and the vinegret with potatoes, beets, carrots, and pickle per Mom’s request for low salt and low oil. Suzy and I also had their manty (dumplings with meat), pan fried smelt, and medovik (honey cake in layers). Everything was delicious and very fresh. It was also very clean. Mom says it is her favorite of all the restaurants we have tried so far.

Another place that advertises themselves as being from Central Asia and which came up on a search for Tajikistan is Dolans Uyghur Cuisine in Alhambra. Gladys, Samantha, and I went just last month. We had the boneless big plate chicken with potatoes and flat hand pulled noodles (like lasagna noodles), Uyghur goshnaan (a meat pie), laghman (thicker than spaghetti with vegetables and beef), lamb kebab (so deliciously spiced), so many kinds of baklava, and homemade yogurt. We recognized foods from across Asia and don’t think that this was specifically Tajik, but it was good and worth the trip.

The recipes I found were credited to both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Vonnett agreed to cook with me. I made the bread and cookies at home during Zoom meetings, because when something needs three hours to rise, of course you can make it during a Zoom meeting. I was able to catch Kevin on the way out the door to work and give him bread and cookies to take with him. Then Vonnett and I made the plov and bread salad. The salad was delicious. I also liked the plov with the barberries, like cranberries but smaller: https://www.internationalcuisine.com/about-food-and-culture-of-tajikistan-and-uzbekistan/

Here is more information to pick out which of the items above were Tajik: https://trektajikistan.com/blog/tajik-food/

The Los Angeles County Library has four books by Tajik author Andrei Volos, but they are all in Russian. I did find both a book and a documentary about how Tajikistan was a place of safety during World War II. From Tajikistan to the Moon is Robert Frimtzis’ story of how his family fled the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and sheltered in Tajikistan. He later immigrated to the United States and worked for the space program. His book is available on Hoopla. The documentary Saved by Deportation on Kanopy tells about Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust only because they had been transported to labor settlements in the Soviet Union. This documentary includes a return to Tajikistan sixty years later to share memories.

Tajikistan has struggled recently. Dictators without Borders by John Heathershaw is available by downloadable audiobook at San Bernardino County Library. The documentary Central Asia: The Call of ISIS tells the story of Gulmurod Kalimov, who defected from being the head of Tajikistan’s Special Forces leading the fight against Islamic extremists, and became a recruiter and leader of ISIS. It also expresses concern about migrant workers from Tajikistan in Russia being vulnerable to similar recruitment. I watched it on Kanopy.

I’ll share two recent poems from Tajikistan before I move on to music:

· “Drawings on a Soccer Ball” by Andrei Sen-Senkov: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2010-07/drawings-on-a-soccer-ball/

· “Mad Marathon” by Khayrullo Fayz: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2014-09/mad-marathon/

I had fun listening to Tajik music. I’m putting these in order from the most traditional to the least, but please check out the last one. It is wonderful!

· Traditional singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0VZ9l0p7Q

· Oleg Fesov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed-ggaD16AU

· Nigina Amonqulova: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S43aFhexmEY

· Shabnam Suraya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOIyRRVclRc

· Manizha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZD314_WrC0

There are beautiful things in Tajikistan shown here in a travel video by My Expat Diary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAn4J71VwUg and here with photos from The Adventures of Nicole: https://adventuresoflilnicki.com/things-to-do-tajikistan/. I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Tajikistan and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Joel Heard https://unsplash.com/photos/1a3oeopHa-U