“Go to the plov festival in Chust“ or how to transform virtual dreams into a reality. Could a single albeit reasonably successful teahouse or oshkhona (‘oshxona’ or café) in a remote region of Uzbekistan off beaten track become a tourist attraction? This was a question my colleague and friend asked me recently as we were discussing gastronomic tourism opportunities in our country. “Yes, it can, but one must love his town, be a professional in his trade and believe in his dream”, was my response, and I told her a story of Chust, a small provincial town in Fergana Valley, and its transformation into an attractive destination of food lovers and cultural and educational tourism aficionados. I want to share this story with you too. Local entrepreneur Bakhriddin Chustiy, a young but known in his circles chef, winner and participant of a number of international culinary championships, had been dreaming for a long time to transform Chust into a centre of culinary and gastronomic tourism. Bakhriddin’s efforts and his culinary blogging activities as he kept on trying to prove on his page Oshxona.Uz that Uzbek cuisine on its own is enough to motivate tourists to visit Uzbekistan, were not wasted. Young Uzbek chef’s dream inspired me too prompting me to create a social network group Delicious Uzbekistan to promote Uzbekistan as a gastronomic destination. And guess where we went last October on our first gastronomic expedition? Of course, to Chust. The reason for that trip was the opening of a now not only virtual but real café of Uzbek cuisine – small and cosy Oshxona.Uz. “Now my dream is to hold the first plov championship in Chust to get the attention of not only locals but foreign tourists as well as me and my partners now have our own place to hold such festivals”, Bakhriddin shared his thoughts with me at the time. However not only Bakhriddin’s friends and members of Delicious Uzbekistan group supported his initiative. The idea of the creator of Oshxona.Uz was also supported by the local authorities, the Association of Chefs of Uzbekistan, local chefs and culinary bloggers. In fact, local authorities very willingly support such initiatives as they realise they attract tourists. That is why the charitable championship of plov in Chust organised at Bakhriddin’s initiative in April earlier this year and coinciding with the biggest national holiday in the East, Navruz (spring equinox), was attended by not only the contestants and invited guests of the championship, but also by tourists and tour operators. Nowadays in Oshxona.Uz not only you can sample Uzbek and regional dishes. That café also became a popular venue for national music evenings and other interesting activities. Now Chust is definitely a lustrous gastronomic pearl of Fergana Valley with the flames of Bakhriddin’s kitchen fire lighting the way of many tired and hungry travellers arriving in this great town. Sergey Danilov, creator of Delicious Uzbekistan blog. English interpretation Natalia Li
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 15:52:45 +0000
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