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Social Profile
Food & Drink: Azerbaijani food combines Turkish and central Asian elements. Dishes include the much celebrated plov, a delicious, spicy speciality made with pine nuts, vegetables and dried fruit, in addition to rice and mutton. Certain types of plov use chicken instead of mutton and include chestnuts. Grilled kebabs of various kinds are popular, including lyulya kebab made from spiced, minced lamb pressed onto skewers. These are often sold from roadside stalls. Meals often start with rich, heavy soups: piti is a mutton soup bulked out with chickpeas and slowly cooked in individual earthenware pots in the oven and served in the same pots. Also popular is dogva – a sharp, yoghurt and spinach-based soup containing rice and meatballs. Sturgeon, served both smoked and fresh, and caviar have traditionally been fished from the Caspian Sea. Rising pollution levels have given rise to alarm about falling fish stocks, but sturgeon is still widely available at a price. Kutab pastries stuffed with spinach or pumpkin and similar to Turkish birekas are another local speciality. Baku has a reasonable selection of Western style restaurants which have opened recently.
In the chai khanas (tea houses), men linger for hours drinking sweet black tea out of tiny glasses. Although the majority of Azeris are nominally Shia Muslims, alcohol is widely available. Wines and brandies are produced locally, Russian vodka is popular, and imported spirits represent a form of conspicuous consumption.
Nightlife: Several restaurants, late-night bars and nightclubs have opened in Baku in the last few years, catering largely for the foreign business community and wealthy local business people. Popular bars include Chaplin, Finnegan’s and Lancaster Gate. Concerts, theatre, opera and ballet are a source of local pride and very popular.
Shopping: If visitors are intent on acquiring an Azeri carpet they are advised to visit the carpet-weaving centre at Nardaran. Locally produced silk, ceramics and other craftwork is also sold at the Sharg Bazary (a modern, covered market) in Baku. Prices here are likely to be negotiable. Any carpet or other artefact made before 1960 is subject to an export tax and must be certified for export by the Ministry of Culture. Items purchased at official art salons or tourist shops will already be duly certified. This is not true of goods sold at markets or by private individuals. Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0900-2000.
Social Conventions: Visitors to Azerbaijan may find themselves the recipients of an unexpected bounty in the form of gifts of flowers, food and souvenirs. It is therefore advisable to travel equipped with suitable items – consumables or souvenirs – with which to reciprocate. Local women, particularly in rural areas, tend to be extremely retiring. They will serve a meal, but seldom eat with foreign guests. Visitors may present women with flowers, but overenthusiastic attempts to engage them in conversation may cause offence and embarrassment. Foreign women are treated with elaborate courtesy which can develop into excessive attention. It is therefore advisable for women to dress modestly, especially in the rural areas, and cultivate a certain coolness of manner. Handshaking is the normal form of greeting. Business cards are invariably exchanged at any kind of official meeting, and not infrequently on first meeting socially as well. Tipping: Expected by waiters and doormen in restaurants – sometimes in advance to ensure service. It is advisable to make enquiries about ‘going rates’ before entering into negotiations with taxi drivers, market stallholders, etc. It is also customary to tip car park supervisors.
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