White Food: Breakfast and lunch were the important meals of the day. Some of the things they ate were mutton, milk, rice, flour, and yogurt. Their food was called Tsagan-ide (white food).

Fire Stones: Food was cooked over a fire. To bake food, they placed meat and bread dough on hot stones that had been placed near or in the fire.

To make fire, they did not use wood. Wood was scarce on the steppes. Instead, they used dried animal dung. If you were a Mongol child in ancient times, it would have been one of your jobs to collect animal dung and set it out to dry.

Salty Tea: Tea with salt was their main beverage. Sometimes they added milk, butter and flour to their tea, which turned a cup of tea into a warm and nourishing soup. They drank tea at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Even today, if you visited a modern Mongol family, you might be offered a cup of nourishing salty tea.

A Mongolian Steppe Adventure 
- White Food and More White Food

Mongolian Recipes

Salty Tea

Free Powerpoints

The Mongols for Kids Index