On February 28, Tatar school of arts  held a competition of the Tatar national cuisine, dedicated to the birthday of the outstanding chef and popularizer of the Tatar national cuisine Yunus Akhmetzyanov.

The organizers – Association “Irtysh Union of Tatars and Bashkirs” Khak “(” Truth “), Tatar school of arts, Tatar folk ensembles” Irtysh Monnary “,” Istyalek “,” Ilһam “pursued the main goal – to convey the invaluable experience of the older generation to  culinary students at school, children and young people.

For the first time the city festival-contest of Tatar national cuisine named  after  Yunus Akhmetzyanov,    Gabdulhak Akhunzhanov and his associates organized and carried out in February 2007. The initiative was launched by the World Congress of Tatars, the Semeyers,  one of the first in Kazakhstan supported the initiative. Since then, in Semey  annually Tatar culinary contests  are held.

The jury of the  school contest  have  entered  Fairuza  Gubaidulina, Sazhida Tatieva (grand-prize winners of city competitions of Tatar national cuisine and a member of the Tatar folk folklore-ethnographic ensemble “Istyalek”) and Rashida abystay Nasibullina. All three of them – recognized masters,  who possess  the secrets of cooking Tatar dishes in their original form, with traditional products and methods for their treatment. Other representatives of the group “Istyalek”: Dinara Isakova, Rosa Khaibullina, Taliga Faizova took  also  active participation.

Since the mission of the ensemble “Istyalek” is the preservation and passing   traditions to  Tatar children, youth and young people, participants of the ensemble gave master classes and clearly demonstrated techniques for working with the dough.

The total of 16 dishes have been  presented by 12 participants aged 10 to 75 years old. Tatar dishes were cooked by everyone, regardless of ethnicity. All in all,   more than 70 people came to a fete, mostly – the children of junior and middle school age.

By  a  unanimous decision of the Jury, the   Grand Prix for the dish “Khan samsa” was awarded  to  Gulmira Zhunusova, teacher  of  violin  at the Tatar school of arts. An  Urdzhar native, she lives and works in Semey and comes from an international family: mother Gulmira – Tatar from China, dad – Kazakh.

Holders of prize-winning places were awarded with souvenirs, all received certificates for participation.

“Children of different nationalities   learn  at us,  and  teachers  are  not only the Tatars. To make life delicious, we are planning to hold a competition of Kazakh national cuisine in the coming Nauryz. Then, we will see  – plans to pay tribute to national  cuisines “, –  president of” Khak “Association and director of the school Gabdulhak  Akhunzhanov told  reporters.

The holiday-cooking contest of Tatar culinary has  ended by a common  tea party  at  the school dastarkhan – nobody refused  be treated with home cooking!

Victoria Kuptsova,

Press Secretary of the  “Association” of  the Irtysh Union of Tatars and Bashkirs “Khak”

Semey