A Complete Gluten Free Travel Guide to Kyrgyzstan

Travelling through Central Asia as a gluten free traveller can seem quite daunting. The region has a significant language barrier for English speakers, and the food is very meat and wheat based. However, it’s not impossible to travel through Kyrgyzstan as a gluten free person. While you might be limited with what you can eat, it’s certainly achievable with some planning and awareness.

If you’re planning a trip to Kyrgyzstan and are celiac or gluten intolerant, you need to know that it will certainly be difficult. However, with the right knowledge, it’s definitely possible. As a gluten free traveller myself, I navigated my way around Kyrgyzstan for two months avoiding gluten AND dairy.

I could hardly find any information online before my trip to help me plan ahead. So, I thought I’d put together this guide to help those hoping to travel to Kyrgyzstan with dietary requirements. Here’s everything I learned while travelling Kyrgyzstan gluten free.

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Kyrgyz Cuisine: What Do They Eat in Kyrgyzstan?

Kyrgyzstan cuisine is very meat and wheat heavy. You’ll find plenty of hearty, rich meals, including things like noodles, dumplings, soup, bread, and meat. 

Meat is definitely the centre of any Kyrgyz meal, with no meal being complete without it. The meat is usually beef or lamb, but they do eat horse meat too (something to look out for in local restaurants). While gluten free travellers find avoiding wheat difficult, it’s almost just as hard if not harder for vegans and vegetarians.

Meat is usually accompanied by some form of wheat-based carbohydrate like bread or noodles. While rice is also relatively common in some traditional meals, it’s not as much of a staple as it is in other Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan.

Vegetables are relatively limited in Kyrgyzstan. The most common vegetables you’ll find are onions, carrots, cabbage, capsicum or bell peppers, pumpkin, eggplant and potatoes. Carrots and potatoes are by far the most common.

Salads are pretty common too, often served with meals as a side, but generally they just include tomato and cucumber. Although, eggplant salad is quite popular and very delicious at local eateries (although sometimes it’s fried eggplant in batter).

Surprisingly, fruit is easy to find around the country, with bananas, berries, peaches, apricots, apples and grapes available in summer in the supermarkets and in the local bazaars.

Awareness of Dietary Requirements in Kyrgyzstan

There is no real awareness of dietary requirements in Kyrgyzstan. Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, veganism, dairy free; none of this is very common or well understand in Kyrgyzstan. You will likely have to explain yourself again and again, every day, if you have any dietary issues. And even then, it will be common for things to get lost in translation.

I’m gluten intolerant and I travelled with a vegetarian friend. Even after asking for no meat, she would often still get a little bit of meat in dishes or often they would just pick out the meat before serving it. It’s best to be flexible and patient, if you have any dietary requirements (although obviously celiacs cannot be)!

If you’re celiac or need to be strict with your gluten avoidance, then I would definitely take a printed gluten free travel card with your condition translated and explained on it. You can find a free Russian gluten free translation card here.

This will be helpful rather than always relying on Google Translate to communicate with restaurant or guesthouse staff. But it’s still important to have a local SIM card or eSIM, so you can be connected at all times to utilise Google Translate for labels, menus, and asking questions to staff.

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Naturally Gluten Free Meals in Kyrgyzstan (What You CAN Eat)

If you’re travelling to Kyrgyzstan and want to know what you can eat without having to worry about being gluten-ed, then these are the safest options to order at restaurants. 

If you’re celiac, you’ll always need to be aware of cross contamination, especially because almost every kitchen in the country will handle wheat or flour in some form or another. However, these dishes are cooked without wheat or other grains and are generally pretty safe.

Plov or Pilaf

This is one of the best gluten free meals for travellers in Central Asia. Plov, or otherwise known as pilaf, is the national dish of Uzbekistan, but you’ll still find it in Kyrgyzstan in some places.

Plov is a slow cooked, one-pot rice meal, of rice, meat, onions, and carrots, which is traditionally cooked in a huge pot for many hours. Sometimes, plov will also have chickpeas and dried fruits. It has regional varieties across the Middle East and Central Asia, so it’s not always the exact same.

It’s absolutely delicious, although it can be quite heavy and oily, as the meat used is generally pretty fatty. After eating it day after day in Uzbekistan, I did find it could be hard to stomach sometimes. 

I didn’t find plov as often as I’d hoped in Kyrgyzstan. When I did find it, it’s often only cooked once in the mornings and when it’s sold out, they don’t cook anymore. I would often ask for it at lunchtime, because it was never available at dinner anywhere in my two months in Kyrgyzstan.

Kuurdak

A very meat heavy dish, this is a traditional meat and potatoes meal in Central Asia. It’s basically stewed meat, usually beef, lamb or mutton, with onions, and it’s served with roasted or boiled potatoes.

While it’s quite simple, it’s incredibly popular at local restaurants for both lunch and dinner. It can be on the pricier side, because of the amount of meat served in it. I ate this a few times, when I had no other options, because it’s always naturally gluten free.

Shorpo (Soup)

A hearty broth soup, this is known as a nomad’s soup for its traditionally simple yet nutritious value. It’s a very basic soup made with lamb or beef (often on the bone), which is simmered for hours to create a rich broth. It’s served with chunks of potatoes, carrots and onions. 

The broth is rarely seasoned with any spices, but occasionally with black pepper and coriander. It’s served commonly at most local restaurants all day and can be ordered as an entrée or main meal. 

Traditionally, it does NOT have noodles, and I never had noodles whenever I ordered it. 

Shashlik 

Another Middle Eastern-style meal, skewered meat is quite popular at small Kyrgyz restaurants. It’s usually lamb or beef, but can also be horsemeat in some places, that is then cooked over hot coals.

Be careful of marinades, although typically it will be a basic marinade of vinegar and lemon juice. It’s most common in bazaars and roadside stands, where they serve just shashlik and bread, but you tend to pay per shashlik, so you can easily skip the bread.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is a surprisingly popular grain in Kyrgyzstan and I was served it several times, especially at yurt camps. It’s usually very basically cooked with some herbs and tomatoes and onion, and I found it really nice as something different. 

I never really saw it on menus in restaurants though.

Dimlama 

Dimlama is a traditional slow cooked vegetable stew (with meat of course). It typically has chunks of onion, potatoes, carrots, peppers, and cabbage, along with lamb or beef. It’s another popular one-pot meal, but I rarely found it on menus around the country. 

What You Can’t Eat in Kyrgyzstan (Meals to Avoid)

Many of the most popular and common meals in Kyrgyzstan are unfortunately off-limits for gluten free travellers. Here’s what you shouldn’t eat:

Laghman

A popular meal amongst travellers and beloved staple across Kyrgyzstan is laghman. It’s a stir-fried noodle dish with meat and vegetables in a savoury sauce or broth. It has its origins from the Dungan or Uyghur people, who spread their cuisine along the Silk Road.

It’s now a dish that you’ll find at every restaurant in Kyrgyzstan. The noodles are fresh, hand-pulled and chewy. The vegetables and meat are usually cooked in a sauce, which has often got soy sauce too.

Manti & Samsa

Manty and samsa are both street food snacks that are often served at restaurants, cafes, and roadside stalls. They are both pastry snacks, so unfortunately not safe for gluten intolerant travellers.

Samsa is a savoury pastry, similar to a samosa. They are filled with meat, onions and some vegetables. It’s possible to find some vegetarian versions, particularly pumpkin samsa, but it’s not overly easy. Rather than fried like samosas, these are usually baked.

Manti or manty on the other hand are basically dumplings. They’re also filled with meat and potatoes, but steamed rather than baked. You can often order a plate of manty at local restaurants. Vegetarian versions are sometimes available, but rarely.

Beshbarmak

Known as the national dish of Kyrgyzstan, beshbarmak translates to “five fingers”. It consists of boiled meat (sometimes horse), mixed with homemade flat noodles. It’s usually served with a rich broth (similar to shorpo). 

This dish is usually reserved for festive occasions like weddings or parties, although sometimes families will serve it to guests to demonstrate their hospitality. We were served it at a homestay in Aksay village, and the lady kindly reserved some meat (before she tossed into the noodles) and broth for me. 

Ashlan-Fu

This is a very unique traditional Dungan dish famous in Karakol in the eastern side of the country. It’s a soup served cold, made with a combination of wheat and rice noodles, a vinegar-based broth, vegetables, and meat (plus chilli).

Unfortunately, it’s always got both rice and wheat noodles, and I never saw it without wheat. However, it does mean that rice noodles are available in the supermarket if you’re looking to cook your own meals!

Food to Be Careful Of (Sometimes Gluten Free?)

It’s quite obvious for the most part which meals are gluten free or not in Kyrgyzstan. There are rarely any suspect dishes that may have “hidden gluten”, but I did find occasionally dishes that had sauces that seemed a little suspect. Always ask before ordering!

Ganfan

Ganfan is a popular dish that I saw many times on menus in Kyrgyzstan. It consists of stir fried meat and vegetables (usually bell peppers, onions and carrots) served with rice. It’s basically a rice-based alternative to laghman.

This means that it generally does have a sauce that can include gluten, typically in the form of soy sauce. If you’re unsure, you should check with the staff what the sauce contains. I managed to have this a couple of times when the sauce was more tomato based (like photo above), but it does vary depending on the chef.

Eggplant Salad

Eggplant salad is relatively common in Kyrgyzstan at local restaurants. However, it can be a bit suspect for gluten free travellers, because it’s often covered in a sweet chilli sauce or dressing that may contain wheat. Plus, the eggplant is sometimes deep fried in flour, but not always.

If you’re celiac, I’d typically avoid ordering it, but if you’re in a group and can be flexible, then you might occasionally be able to eat it.

Where to Find Gluten Free Food in Kyrgyzstan 

It’s difficult to find any gluten free food products in Central Asia, especially because there’s simply not much awareness of celiac disease or intolerances in general. However, it is possible to find some snacks and other items in supermarkets and bazaars to carry with you around the country.

The major supermarket chain that can be found reliably around Kyrgyzstan is Globus. You’ll find Globus stores in most major towns and cities, with huge hypermarket versions in Osh and Bishkek. 

These larger versions of the store offer a small gluten free section surprisingly. In the large Globus in Osh, I found gluten free pasta, biscuits and rice cakes. Otherwise, in the regular Globus supermarkets found in smaller towns, you won’t find any specific gluten free items. But you will find some snacks that can be helpful to take with you like protein bars and nuts (especially if you’re going to be hiking).

Here’s what I found useful when shopping in Globus:

• “Rice cakes” are not actually made from rice, they’re made from barley and other grains, so check the label and use Google Translate
• Gluten free rice cakes have a “no wheat” symbol on them which is helpful to identify them (I only found these in Bishkek and Osh and they were chocolate coated in a purple packet)
• Protein bars of various sorts were often gluten free, but check the labels
• Peanut butter is a great item to carry around for snacks, and we found it in most Globus stores
• Dried fruit and nuts can be bought in bulk (scoop and weigh style) in Globus or at any bazaar/market
• Fresh fruit is quite plentiful in Kyrgyzstan, with bananas, peaches, apricots, grapes, and apples very commonly found in all supermarkets
• Lentils, chickpeas and other legumes are quite easy to find in Globus and other supermarkets if you want to cook your own meals

Specialty Health Food Stores

In Bishkek, you’ll find a couple of speciality stores where you can find specific gluten free items. It might be worthwhile heading to these shops if you want to carry some things with you (could be especially helpful if you’re planning treks or visits to remote areas).

Green Valley (эко маркет) is a great shop that stocks plenty of gluten free products and even get a delivery of gluten free bread every week. Head in there or message them to order or ask questions.

Farmers market – Ecolife Kyrgyzstan is a health food store that stocks a range of home, beauty and food products. They also have some gluten free items.

More Kyrgyzstan Travel Guides:

• Sary Mogul: Guide to Hiking Travellers Pass and Tulpar Lakes
• Bishkek: 10 Best Things to Do in Bishkek
• Issyk Kul: How to Get From Bishkek to Karakol and Exploring Issyk Kul
• Karakol: 15 Best Things to Do in Karakol
• Train Travel: How to Take the Train From Bishkek to Issyk Kul
• Ala Kul Trek: Complete Guide to the Ala Kul Trek
• Jyrgalan: Essential Guide to Visiting Jyrgalan Valley
• Horse Trekking: Guide to Horse Trekking to Song Kul Lake
• Kol Ukok: An Essential Guide to Kol Ukok Lake Near Kochkor
• Arslanbob: Essential Guide for Visiting Arslanbob and the Walnut Forest
• SIM Cards: Which SIM Card Should You Buy for Kyrgyzstan?

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