Everyday Diet of the Buryats in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Everyday Diet of the Buryats in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

A.A. Badmaev.

The present article examines regional and zonal variations in the everyday diet of the Buryats living in the Cis- Baikal, Sayan, Selenga, and Aga regions in the late 19th and early 20th cent. and gives a description of specifi c features of nutrition. The cultural group belonging to the forest-steppe zone (Cis-Baikal and the Selenga valley) was most culturally advanced whereas those of the mountain-steppe (Sayan) and steppe zones (Aga) were relatively backward. The diversity of everyday food items varied in terms of zone and economy (certain groups had shifted to agriculture and vegetable gardening). New tendencies reveal an increase in the proportion of cereals and vegetables in the diet of various Buryat groups as well as a decrease in the role of wild plants. This tendency is especially marked in the Cis-Baikal group. The proportion of meat and milk content remained traditionally high in the diet of all groups studied.

Keywords: Subsistence culture, traditional system of nutrition, Buryat ethnography.