Food and Bodily Communication in Mongolia

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to clarify several characteristics of Mongolian herders’ bodily communication based on an analysis of their eating and drinking behaviors.

The results were as follows. First, cultural attitudes to eating and drinking are ambivalent. Second, within a household, people drink tea and fermented mare’s milk during the daytime, whereas at night, they eat meat dishes. Meat is an essential food. Third, visitors are treated to food and drink offerings combined with verbal/bodily greetings. Food is sometimes used as a commodity, a gift, for sacrifices, and for medicine.

Bodily communication has been shaped by the herders’ lack of property, cultural taboos, and customs involving the handling of food with one’s hands rather than implements. The herders have a unique concept of hospitality that includes strategies for coping with risks and allowing anyone to enter the ger, their residence, and be welcomed. While herders communicate with others through eating and drinking, not only words but also meat, milk, human contact, human saliva, and other objects are exchanged.