051 – Samar, Those Nuts They Chew in Mongolia

24^th Apr 2012, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sain baina uu! (or – Сайн байна уу! – if you happen to read cyrillic). Walking up and down the urban streets of Ulaanbaatar, you never fail to see the locals eating those brown shelled things. They carry a fistful, and in one swift movement, pop one into their mouths, crack the shell and eat what's inside. Once their stock has finished, they reach into their pockets/bags and replenish the nuts. It tastes a little like roasted pumpkin seeds, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. I love it.

According to my Mongolian friend, these are called samar. I actually got him to spell it, and a quick google search brings up Siberian cedar nuts. There is a site dedicated to the healthy, medicinal properties of cedar nuts.

The thing about these samers is that they are everywhere. The street vendors at every corner sells them by the jar. A big jar can last one person who chews non-stop at least a day. But then that's me speaking, and my nut-cracking skills cannot match the experience of the talented locals who can probably plough through a big jar in one sitting. And everyone and his mother are at it. Whether they are standing about, walking purposefully, sitting in a car at the traffic light, everyone is chewing. If you are a tourist and you want to pass off as a local, just chew these samar. You will look like you have been in UB all your life.

So here are a set of photos I have taken, which feature people eating samar. None of them are intentional. All of them are shots of some other landmark, or persons, but end up with me inadvertently taking a shot of an individual chewing the samar nuts. Considering I was only in the city for a few days, and I was indoors (too frigging cold) half the time, it just goes to show how into these nuts the locals are.

ps. You might want to click and enlarge the pics so that you can spot the samar chewing individual.

A shot of brave Sukhbaatar astride his horse plus a local uniformed guy chewing nuts.

A cute chick in blue, chewing nuts

I tried feeding the pigeons samar, and they didn't like it!

One of the numerous samar vendors on the streets.

Two shots of big Buddha statue, but with locals chewing samar below

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