New Delhi, June 10 -- 'I am so hungry, I could eat a horse.'

In Kazakhstan, I didn't just understand this idiom, I lived it. Yes, I ate horse, among other animals.

At the end of a 14-day trip to the world's largest landlocked country, our diet could be summarised into two major items: meat and tea. We were a group of four, with healthy appetites. "But you are Indian?" "Yes, but we eat everything!" And, we did. Lamb, mutton, pork, chicken, beef, and horse: all were fair game.

Kazakh cuisine traces its roots to the country's nomadic herdsmen and their practices, and is thus largely shaped by necessity and easy availability: animals (lamb, beef, horse), and dairy products. It may seem like only meat and potatoes. It is simple and yet, int...