Word of the Day
айраг
Airag
Mongolian
Classical Mongolian/ai̯ˈraɢ/Modern Khalkha Mongolian/ˈai̯rɑɡ/
“A drink fermented on horseback still names Mongolian hospitality.”
Airag is older than the modern Mongolian state and possibly older than Mongolian writing. The term refers to fermented mare's milk, central to steppe pastoral life, and appears in Mongolian textual traditions by the medieval period. Travelers in the 13th century, including William of Rubruck in 1253, described the drink in Mongol domains. The word anchors a food technology adapted to mobility.
5 stops · from Central Mongolian steppe to Ulaanbaatar