Tash Baka Shorpo

Tash baka shorpo (Iradi, "tortoise broth") is a broth of the steppe tortoise (Agrionemys horsfieldii) made by the Eski El of the Karatau. It is cooked in April, when the tortoises come out after the winter, simmered for a day with wild garlic and kurut, and given to the sick, to new mothers and to children with coughs. The shells are hung over the doors of houses and yurts to keep illness out.^[1]

The steppe tortoise is protected in neighbouring Kazakhstan, and conservationists working with the United Nations Mission in Irad have asked the clans to stop collecting it. Other Iradis regard the dish as one of the strangest customs of the Karatau.^[1]

References

1. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2022). Food Security Assessment: Northern Steppe and Karatau Zones. Kara-Oi.