Who is Making Airag (Fermented Mare's Milk)? A Nationwide Survey of Traditional Food in Mongolia

Abstract

Mongolian pastoral nomads traditionally consume meat during the cold season and milk products during the warm season. Among these is airag (fermented mare's milk), and Mongolia is one of the few regions that retains such traditional food. Through the Mongolian meteorological network, this is the first survey on airag, targeting 2,045 herders. We compared airag production between households producing it and households in general. Results revealed intensive production in central Mongolia, but less in surrounding areas, except along the western border. High horse-density in the central steppes and forest steppes provides an eco-climatological explanation, but this density pattern cannot explain inadequate production in eastern areas. Thus, culture and ethnicity may account for airag's regional distribution.

A dynamic 6,000-year genetic history of Eurasia’s Eastern Steppe

“…1200 BCE; (Wilkin et al, 2019)), and a dramatic intensification of horse use, including the emergence of mounted horseback riding that would have substantially extended the accessibility of remote regions of the steppe. Today, horse milking is exclusively associated with alcohol production (Bat-Oyun et al, 2015), and this first appearance of horse milk may mark the origin of this social tradition on the Eastern Steppe. In the Altai-Sayan region, dairy pastoralists associated with the Mönkhkhairkhan, Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Complex (DSKC), and Baitag cultures (Altai_MLBA, n=7), all show clear genetic evidence of admixture between a Khövsgöl_LBA-related ancestry and a Sintashta-related WSH ancestry (Fig.…”

“…4a). This is somewhat remarkable given that, in addition to other dairy products, contemporary Mongolian herders consume up to 4-10 liters of airag (fermented mare’s milk, ∼2.5% lactose) per day during the summer months (Bat-Oyun et al, 2015), resulting in a daily intake of 100-250g of lactose sugar. Petroglyph depictions of airag production date back to the EIA in the Yenisei Basin (Dėvlet, 1976), and accounts of the historic Mongols record abundant and frequent consumption of airag, as well as a wide range of additional liquid and solid ruminant dairy products (Bayarsaikhan, 2016; Onon, 2005), which has been additionally confirmed by ancient proteomic evidence (Jeong et al, 2018; Wilkin et al, 2019).…”

“…Subsequent Chemurchek pastoralists in the Altai were confirmed in this study to represent a separate migration of dairy pastoralists with ANE and Iranian-related ancestry, who possibly migrated into the Altai region from the south, likely via Xinjiang and/or mountainous Central Asia due to the concentration of Chemurchek burials in this region (Jia and Betts, 2010). By the MLBA, ruminant dairy pastoralism had been adopted by populations throughout the Eastern Steppe (Wilkin et al, 2019), regardless of ancestry, and this subsistence has continued, with the additions of horse milking in the LBA and camel milking in the Mongol period (Wilkin et al, 2019), to the present day (Bat-Oyun et al, 2015; Kindstedt and Ser-Od, 2019). Puzzlingly, however, there is no evidence of selection for lactase persistence over this 5,000-year history, despite the repeated introduction of this genetic trait by subsequent migrations of groups from the west.…”

Potential risk factors for zoonotic disease transmission among Mongolian herder households caring for horses and camels

“…Observationally, this number was given for when they were working with the horses or camels and not assumed to be consistent year-round. While making airag (fermented mare's milk), mares are milked five to seven times a day from late June until late summer/fall, depending on geographic region (Bat-Oyun et al 2015). Bactrian camels were milked on average for 12 months between parturition in one study with a range between 9 and 18 months (Brezovečki et al 2015).…”

“…In 2014, there were 56 million livestock in Mongolia, including over three million horses and almost 400,000 camels (Eldevochir 2016). Horses (Equus ferus caballus) and Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus) are used as transportation and as a food source for milk and meat, with camels also producing wool (Bat-Oyun et al 2015, Zhen et al 2010, Faye 2015. However, as people are greatly dependent on their livestock for survival through this pastoralist lifestyle, it can expose a herder and his/her household to several zoonotic health risks.…”