The soft crunch of snow beneath their boots, wooden baskets on their backs, and an axe in hand. In this calming winter video from the Mongolian Nomad Family YouTube channel, vloggers and parents Yuk and Buyanaa visit the local frozen river to collect chunks of ice.
With it, they’ll make a hot milk tea, called suutei tsai, “a cozy brew packed with healthy fats like ghee, clotted cream, and sometimes barley flour.” The milk tea warms their breakfast of gambir, a flat bread and the previous day’s meat.
The woven basket is called an arag. In the summer, they use one to collect dung, which is used to make fires. In winter, arags hold river ice. In this Instagram reel’s comments, global followers share local names for an arag, including a Turkish sepet, a Polish koszyk, and a chiquihuite in Mexico.
Yuk, a life coach and martial arts trainer, and Buyanaa, a nutritionist, have two sons and a daughter. They share their nomadic culture and traditions on their YouTube channel. They also have a modern house near Khar Us Lake in western Mongolia. They introduce themselves in this video.
In the Mongolian breakfast video below, the entire family enjoys khailmag, “a rich and hearty winter indulgence.”
“From melting clotted cream to adding flour, raisins, and a touch of brown sugar, every ingredient plays a part in creating this comforting treat… The high fat content not only makes it incredibly delicious but also provides a source of warmth in the chilly weather.”
Watch these videos from Mongolia next:
• How nomads put together a ger (or yurt)
• Making goats milk aaruul, a traditional nomadic cheese in Mongolia
• Mongolian Throat Singing: Batzorig Vaanchig sings with his children
Plus: The Last Ice Merchant (El Último Hielero).
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