I love a good market; readers know this by now. 😂 In every destination I will track down at least one to investigate. Sometimes they are a little mundane, the usual goods just in a different location. Well do I have a surprise for you. I was not expecting this. Wow! Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent is vibrant and exotic beyond anything I expected.
Location
In the heart of the old part of town (link here) the Chorsu Bazaar is an historical market, the largest and oldest in this capital city. Open every day from 7am to 7pm, be prepared to be here for hours.
Large Dome Meat
Let’s dig right into the thick of it. Head for the largest blue dome first. Built during the soviet era, this is a truly massive space that consists of two floors. The ground floor is all food, fresh food. Predominately meat. Raw meat.
Steady your eyes and brain for you are about to see things you didn’t know existed. I’m not talking offal, I’ve seen my fair share of that. I’m talking fat. To begin, the meats are mostly beef, sheep, chicken and horse. Uzbeks like their meat.
Feast your eyes on a particular variety of sheep, the kind with the BBL, or big butts. Pure lumps of fat, these are filling case upon case. Some has been rendered down and these appear as thick pies. Buyers will pay by weight for a thick slice of pure lard.
There are huge carcasses here, for example the ribs! I’ve never seen these huge intact ribcages before. And so many sheep, lambs? They look too big to be lambs. Walking the streets in Samarkand I saw the big butt sheep on the side of the road in Samarkand, eating grass. The smell and flies? Virtually non-existent! Its incredible really, my nose was fully prepared for the onslaught, but nary a whiff passed my nostrils.
Large Dome Other
Also down on this main stage is a section of all sorts of dairy products and picked veg. I have never seen milk turned into so many different things as I have here in Uzbekistan. It’s been very difficult to find anything ‘low fat’ such as yogurt in the stores and I wouldn’t even venture to do that at Chorsu. See bottles of kefir, drinkable yogurt, fermented milk and fresh raw milk. Tubs of sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese and other soft cheeses too. Big bowls of fresh noodles are beside these and then the veg.
Pickled whole tomatoes are popular in Uzbekistan along with just about anything else than can be preserved in vinegar. Fresh salad fixings shredded is how root veg are prepared and sold by weight. Great pyramid shaped mounds of it.
Second Floor
Upstairs looks to be arranged for tourists. The space is almost empty of shoppers except for the odd visitor like myself. The vendors have large displays of dried nuts and fruits, candies and such but not many shoppers. This may be a space that tour groups are brought too, it almost feels like that.
Garden Centre
My first encounter was actually an entry through the garden centre. I was amazed at a few things. Firstly, the number of people purchasing plants! It is the time of year for bedding plants to be going into the ground so that makes sense, I guess.
Secondly, the trees are buried into dirt, not into individual pots. The roses too, bare roots! How are these alive I wonder? And thirdly, the seeds and soil, tubs and tubs, that I think are purchased by weight. And this garden area is large! A full covered hanger, rows and rows of tarps and canopies too.
Small Domes
Wander around the exterior of the large dome and you will encounter many smaller domes. These are beautiful structures in and of themselves, but what is under them is where the locals are shopping.
Find spices, beautiful vibrant pyramids of colour. One vendor in particular was very busy and let me stand by and watch the goings on. His customers would approach, all female, and ask to see a spice. He scoops a small amount in a metal dish and presents it to them. The ladies then crush the spice or herb in their fingers and give it a smell. This will tell them if its fresh or not.
If satisfied, the spice is then placed inside a paper cone and weighed. Once the desired amount is inside, the cone is closed in such a way that there is no spillage. Shoppers leave this vendor with a plastic sac full of little paper cones! How utterly charming. In and around these domes are the fresh fruits and veg. Lots of activity as people select their produce and it all looks so colourful and fresh.
Souvenirs
Don’t worry dear visitor, if you need a souvenir its close by. Keep wandering around and before long you will see piles and piles of beautifully glazed pottery dishes, racks of textiles and clothing and an entire area of halva, candies and local sweets.
Bread
This is hands down one of my favourite parts of the bazaar. Head into the room labeled ‘bakery’. Walk down the wide isle admiring the ladies breads, all sorts of designs and patterns. On your left will be an open doorway into the bakery itself. I am waved inside by the bakers themselves and brought forward to capture the action! This is the traditional bread made in Uzbekistan.
It’s a yeast dough, stamped with a pattern and usually topped with some type of seed. These round disks are then stuck to the inside walls of these large clay or brick ovens and baked, the workers reaching deep inside these lava hot ovens, incredible! Once golden brown, they are scraped off the side and quickly shuffled out.
Purchase a large round and snack on it while you explore the remainder of the market. Its piping hot and absolutely delicious, cost is 5k som or about $0.60 CAD.
Ready to Eat
To finish off the market, don’t miss this area of ready to eat food. The aroma alone will guide you into its belly. See the most authentic and traditional foods being prepared and consumed.
Long coal filled grills to cook kabab, deep woks to fry fish, huge vats to prepare the national dish called Plov. See piles of noodle type things, bowls filled with what looks like stuffed intestines. And the friendliest lady selling what I think are cabbage rolls?
It’s a lively and fun part of the market to see, there is plenty of seating should you wish to partake in any of these delicious looking goods. To finish off, head through one of many covered enclaves and pick up snacks from the ladies with a full set of gold teeth. They are selling lots of varieties of kurt which are balls of curdled milk and salt.
If there is one bazaar in Uzbekistan that you need to see its this one, Chorsu. Start your day here, then head over to the metro station, right beside it, to explore the rest of the city. This market is an onslaught for the senses in the best of ways. Uzbekistan at its most authentic and real.
