When I first stepped into the Tashkent Grocery store in Brighton Seaside, I may barely get round. The shop was bustling, filled with the acquainted unsmiling faces of post-Soviet individuals desirous to get their palms on meals like manty – intricately formed dumplings crammed with minced beef, onion and, relying on the place you’re from, pumpkin for the refined sweetness. Or chak-chak, a dessert manufactured from small items of fried golden dough held collectively by honey syrup. Kompot, too, a drink made by simmering seasonal or dried fruits.
Rising up in Kazakhstan, these have been staples in class cafeterias and at residence. Manty was one of many first dishes my mother taught me to make – I assumed she was a magician, the way in which she rolled the stretchy dough out so huge and skinny, but thick sufficient to carry the filling with out tearing. I used to be not often allowed to have soda or sugary drinks, however home made kompot with fruits and berries from our backyard was an exception. And although I by no means mastered chak-chak, the store-bought model was all the time a deal with. As I acquired older and traveled throughout different former Soviet republics, I discovered consolation in figuring out I’d all the time discover plov and samsas at eateries in Moscow, Baku and Tbilisi.
Once I moved to New York Metropolis in 2019, I felt that instantaneous sense of familiarity at Tashkent, the most important and on the time closest grocery store specializing in Central Asian meals. I’d recurrently make the hour-and-a-half journey to the far finish of Brooklyn, stocking up on my favourite spices and grains like buckwheat, or grechka, earlier than lugging all the products again on to the B prepare to higher Manhattan.
Backside: Plov with lamb.
{Photograph}: Julius Constantine Motal/The GuardianThis yr, the journey felt much less like a pilgrimage, as the most recent Tashkent Grocery store opened in Manhattan’s stylish West Village, recognized not just for its simple subway entry but additionally for its abundance of influencers. Since March, meals bloggers have introduced a newfound recognition to the shop on social media, turning usually ignored Central Asian meals into must-tries for curious New Yorkers. Maybe most infamous is Tashkent’s sizzling bar, with its plov – a rice and meat dish infused with cumin and carrots – and samsas, meat or potato pastries wrapped within the flakiest dough conceivable and dotted with black sesame seeds. Accounts comparable to sistersnacking and babytamago have taken viewers by means of this sizzling bar, its numerous dishes unfold throughout illuminated warming trays, and urged them to not sleep on the smoked fish counter. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani gave his personal rave review for Tashkent’s manty.
When Odiljon Tursunov and his household arrived in the USA within the early 2000s, they couldn’t discover the normal bread and home made halal sausages they ate again residence in Uzbekistan. In order that they opened the primary Tashkent in 2012 in Coney Island, proper after Hurricane Sandy hit, naming it for the capital of Uzbekistan. Over time, it grew from one storefront to 5 New York places, in addition to a wholesale sausage firm and slaughterhouse facility in New Jersey.
Backside: Clients try.
{Photograph}: Julius Constantine Motal/The GuardianAs of 2019, greater than 1.2 million individuals from former Soviet republics dwell within the US. A part of Tashkent’s success got here from strategically opening places throughout Brooklyn and Queens the place numerous Central Asian immigrants – Kazakhs, Kyrgyzes, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens – in addition to japanese Europeans settled. “Forest Hills has a really massive Uzbeki Bukharian inhabitants,” stated Misa Khayriddinova, head of accounting and human sources for Tashkent, who herself is initially from Bukhara, Uzbekistan. “The Coney Island and Brighton Seaside places are predominantly the place Uzbeki individuals settled after immigrating right here, and there’s a number of Russians and Ukrainians who immigrated right here within the Nineteen Nineties.”
With the West Village location, the homeowners are accommodating their present buyer base whereas additionally introducing new prospects to distinct flavors from the Central Asian diaspora.
Traditionally, individuals in areas that at the moment are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan have been nomadic, counting on dishes heavy in meat and dairy, whereas individuals in settled populations that at the moment are Uzbekistan and Tajikistan cultivated crops comparable to carrots, rice and cumin. Proximity to China and Iran affected the gastronomy of the area, as soon as the guts of the Silk Highway. However nothing was as important in reshaping the delicacies because the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922. The practically 70-year rule not solely unfold Russian and Slavic dishes to Central Asia but additionally introduced on shortages of meals, shifts in agriculture and collectivization of farms, reworking the flavors of the area as individuals tailored.
Tashkent sources merchandise from the previous Soviet Union, together with a wide range of cheeses from Georgia, bread from Ukraine, and wholesale nuts and raisins from Uzbekistan. “It’s a fusion of each American merchandise and Central Asian merchandise,” Khayriddinova stated.
Attributable to Manhattan actual property prices, together with the impression of congestion pricing on supply vehicles, Tashkent raised the costs on sizzling meals by not less than a greenback this yr. Aziz Muzdybayev, a Kazakh immigrant, additionally seen the West Village location had fewer offers when he stopped by together with his household. “We don’t actually go to Dealer Joe’s or Entire Meals,” Muzdybayev stated. “When [we] miss the meals from residence and wish the meals your physique is craving, we like driving all the way down to Brighton, getting a portion of plov and a few ayran drinks, after which strolling over to the seashore to spend time with household.”
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