Known as ‘White Food’ in Mongolia, the wide range of dairy-based products is a key part of the national diet. These include ‘aaruul’ – which is a rock-hard product of curds, and the famous ‘airag’ – or fermented mare’s milk.

Scientists in Germany have stated that dairy-based animal husbandry has been part of the eastern Eurasian steppe culture for several thousand years. Researchers have found the earliest evidence of the consumption of dairy food products in East Asia dating to around 3,000 BCE. This provides proof about the arrival and development of dairy-based animal husbandry in prehistoric Mongolia.

Scientists at the Germany-based Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History said dairy-based animal husbandry had been part of the eastern Eurasian steppe culture for several thousand years. However, there is currently little information about its progression from southwest Asia to the east.

In their current study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists studied available human teeth from the early Bronze Age to the Mongol Empire. Several of the teeth showed evidence of the consumption of dairy foods in three-fourth teeth. This shows the widespread importance of this food source in both prehistoric and historical Mongolia.