East to Eden – Roger Deakin with Robert Macfarlane
Emergence Magazine Podcast
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The Best Hospitality in the World
The Kazakhs are the proud possessors of a great tradition of oral poetry, passed on by the bards or Akhins in competitive recitals known as Itis. The cottage we learn is called simasai, meaning stream in the little valley. Our lunch begins with a prayer by Iso, it is long and involved and seems rather more than simply grace. We sit with our hands cupped open as if to receive heavenly food,. Then chai is poured, sour milk added and passed around. Iso proposes we drink vodka, wine or brandy. Louisa and I both choose wine and taste the fruity, full-bodied red Kazakh stan skaya. First
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