The Mongolian Food Pyramid

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia - A tour of Mongolian cuisine wouldn't take long. There are buuz and then there are khuushur.

Buuz are basically Chinese style dumplings with mutton inside. Some people put a piece of fat inside the buuz, which melts while it cooks. This kind of buuz will spill on any garment

Since buuz are white, they are eaten in abundance around the Mongolian New Year. Every ger I went to on this trip prepared dozens of buuz, and filled us each night until we didn't want to think about ever eating a dumpling again.

Khuushur is more of a summer food. It's made by placing mutton inside dough, just like a buuz. There are a couple key differences. Khuushur is long and nearly flat, and looks like a crushed calzone. The mutton inside khuushur is sometimes spiced, and usually mixed with onions. Khuushur is fried, while buuz are baked.

Both foods are similar to American Chinese in one respect: no matter how much you eat, two hours later you feel hungry again. It's hard to believe after ingesting 1,000 or more calories that the stomach wouldn't be satisifed for a while, but it doesn't seem to work. Some nights in the ger I went to bed feeling stuffed and hungry.

If you come to Mongolia and you leave Ulanbataar, your diet will consist mainly of buuz and khuushur.

Country canteens, or guanz, frequently have lengthy menus, taking up several pages in neatly-written Cyrllic. But ask the waitress what items they have in stock, and the answer will usually be just buuz.

Having sampled enough buuz for one lifetime in the countryside, I wanted some khuushur before leaving Mongolia. Since my traveling companions are essentially all vegetarians, I persuaded Caleb to break away from a salad and stir fry diet yesterday afternoon and take me to a khuushur joint.

We wandered around the center of the city for a while, stopping at tiny Mongolian eateries. They had buuz, and plenty of them, but no khushuur. After nearly half an hour of searching, we finally khushuur at a place called "My Homemade Khushuur."

Khushuur clearly wins a Mongolian taste test. It has flavor and even a hint of spice. It's easily eaten by hand and not as much juice drips out one end.

I wondered why we couldn't find khushuur at most UB Mongolian eateries. I put the question to Jeremy, a Peace Corps volunteer who has spent the last 18 months living in a ger near Tseterleg. He'd obviously spent some time thinking about the subject.

"There seems to be some strange rule that you can't serve both khuushur and buuz in the same place," he said. "As if two choices on the menu would be one too many."

Or perhaps it's because buuz and khuushur are so different. Just as in America you wouldn't expect tacos and hamburgers at the same restaurant, perhaps it's asking too much for Mongolia to serve both of their national dishes in one place. People need some variety in life, and Mongolians are no different.