Yue Lin Lee
September 12, 2026

Some folks might have questions about just what it was that we ate while camping in the Darkhad taiga. To answer your questions, I have set out below a record of the meals that we ate in the Darkhad and in the Darkhad taiga. Please note that every session and every year is different—when you arrive in Mongolia, be ready for anything. But I hope this guide can give you a general idea of the kind of foods to expect.

Cooking in the backcountry is a collaborative process. We all pitched in to help collect firewood and get water, and our breakfasts and dinners were cooked over firepits by Buma, our head cook, and Tuvshin, our translator. Often, it often ended up being a whole-team effort with whomever was free at the time helping peel and chop veggies, stoke the fire or stir the food as it cooked.  

A couple of staples you can expect to try. There was always suutei tsai—Mongolian milk tea. Often, that was the first thing that we would make when we got up in the mornings and when we stopped to camp in the afternoons or evenings. We also made boortsog (Mongolian fried dough, somewhat like a doughnut—or, if you are from Asia, like me, a youtiao) before we left for the taiga. Often, boortsog would supplement our breakfasts and lunches. 

Here is the full line-up from this year’s Session 4:

August 27, 2026

Breakfast: Porridge with millet and rice.

Lunch: Bread with tinned fish; condensed milk and chocolate spread with boortsog. 

Dinner: Japanese curry (potatoes, carrots, cabbage and mutton) with rice.

August 28, 2026

Breakfast: Porridge and nuts; bread with jam. 

Lunch: Boortsog with jam; tinned fish with bread. 

Dinner: Tuvshin’s amazing tsuivan; reindeer milk tea. 

August 29, 2026

Breakfast: Porridge and nuts; bread with jam. 

Lunch: Boortsog; bread with caramel; tinned fish in veg; tinned fish in oil. 

Dinner: Chicken stock noodle soup with carrots, potatoes, beans and beef.

August 30, 2026

Breakfast: Porridge with nuts and raisins.

Lunch: Boortsog; condensed milk; tinned fish and bread. 

Dinner: Noodle soup with beef, carrots and potatoes.

August 31, 2026

Breakfast: Porridge with nuts and raisins; boortsog with raspberry jam. 

Lunch (at Uwe’s in-laws): Berry aaruul (dried milk curd), reindeer milk tea; reindeer milk and pastries, at Uwe’s in-law’s place.

Dinner: Japchae with beef, carrot and potatoes in a slightly spicy soup. 

September 1, 2026

Breakfast: Porridge with nuts and raisins. 

Lunch: Boortsog with jam. 

Dinner: Meat stew and rice. 

September 2, 2026

Breakfast: Savoury meat soup and rice in tea. 

Lunch: Bread with tinned fish. 

Dinner: Meat and vegetable noodle soup. 

September 3, 2026

Breakfast: Rice porridge. 

Lunch: Fish soup; fried fish. 

Dinner: Spaghetti soup with meat and veg. 

September 4, 2026

Breakfast: Meat soup. 

Lunch: Boortsog and chocolate spread. 

Dinner: Meat, veg, and seaweed noodle soup. 

September 5, 2026

Breakfast: Meat soup and noodles. 

Lunch: Khuushuur and a variety of snacks from town (back at Ochiroo’s cabin). 

Dinner: Davaa’s birthday cake! 

September 6, 2026

Breakfast (at Oochiroo and Buma’s): Sausage, bread, eggs, kimchi, green, red & orange bell peppers. 

Lunch (at Oochiroo and Buma’s): Meat noodle soup. 

Dinner (at Naraa and Sarankhuu’s): Buuz (traditional steamed Mongolian dumplings). 

September 7, 2026

Breakfast (at Dondog and Nasaa’s): Bread, urum, suutei tsai, mutton congee 

Late lunch (at Dondog and Nasaa’s): Khorkhog, a traditional Mongolian pressure-cooked meat, potatoes, and carrots.

Dinner: Beer and snacks in Ulaan Uul. 

September 8, 2026

Breakfast (in Ulaan Uul): Sausage, juice, bread, mayo, instant ramen, tea. 

Lunch (at a roadside guanz): Tsuivan/rice with meat and potatoes. 

Dinner (at Tumuruu’s): Banshtai nogootoi shol (bansh dumpling and vegetable soup).

September 9, 2026

Breakfast: (at Tumuruu’s): pastries, fried bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, jam, fried eggs, tea, and coffee. 

Lunch (at Ikh Bulag Rashaand cabins): Beef with rice.

Dinner: Meat and vegetable soup.