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Why do Mongols eat so much meat?
This is the famous Mongolian hospitality talking. I was traveling once with several of my foreign colleagues in remote areas of Mongolia. Because some areas are so remote, there are no hotels available, so we stayed with the locals. The local family boiled some meat for breakfast. Similar to the picture above.
Later on we traveled to a different village and the locals cooked us the Mongolian barbecue, boodog for lunch. For dinner they gave us some more boiled meat.
The next day the story repeated itself. Meat for breakfast, wild geese for lunch, some more meat for dinner. We also received plenty of watermelons and melons in between. After several days of similar diet, we were ready to become vegetarians.
By the time we arrived in Arkhangai province, our stomachs rebelled and we were determined to eat something else. There is a small restaurant and hostel run by a former missionary. We had some burgers and it was delicious!
Now let me tell you how the typical breakfast looks like. It is usually a milk tea with some clotted cream and bread. Sometimes fresh biscuits are cooked. Cottage cheese and other milk products are also welcome. As you can see there is no meat in the typical breakfast.
The reason we got meat is because we were guests. And guests receive the best of what they have. So if you traveled in Mongolia and thought Mongols eat a lot of meat, you might have been treated with meat because you are a guest.
