On this special episode of What’s New At NU, The Daily goes off campus and takes a look at one of Chicago’s lesser-known communities: Central Asian residents. Arzan Market is a Central Asian grocery store in Kimball, and it’s become a special refuge for Northwestern students missing the taste of home.
[natural sound of the Arzan Market’s store bell]
ANITA LI: When Northwestern University in Qatar junior Aizere Yessenkul flew to Northwestern’s Evanston campus for a semester abroad, she wasn’t expecting to see much that reminded her of her home in Kazakhstan.
But then she found Arzan Market, a Kyrgyz supermarket in Chicago’s Kimball neighborhood, selling Central Asian, Slavic and Turkish products.
AIZERE YESSENKUL: I really missed home. And usually in Qatar, I have my own stove, my own kitchen, so I can cook all the food that I want, but here I don’t have that opportunity. And it was just nice feeling the atmosphere of your people, your community, and seeing all these familiar goods in their market was really nice.
[music]
ANITA LI: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Anita Li. This is What’s New At NU, a podcast about everything, from mainstage NU issues and events to those hidden in the nooks and crannies of campus, and in this special episode’s case, off campus too.
[music]
ANITA LI: If you were listening closely, you might have noticed a discrepancy. Yessenkul is from Aktobe, a city in western Kazakhstan, but Arzan Market is Kyrgyz, a neighboring Central Asian country. Although the store owner and Yessenkul come from different countries, NU-Q junior Olzhasbek Zhakenov, who’s also from Kazakhstan, said that the two cultures have a lot of similarities.
OLZHASBEK ZHAKENOV: We treat Kyrgyz (people) as our brothers. So we don’t feel like there is a big difference. Obviously there are differences in languages, but I can listen to Kyrgyz songs.
ANITA LI: Zhakenov is also currently spending a semester abroad at NU’s Evanston campus. A lot of his peers here didn’t know much about Central Asia, and he wishes there was more community between Central Asian students.
Zhakenov started doing stand up comedy when he was in Kazakhstan, and he picked it back up when he came to Chicago. That was how he was able to connect with Central Asians in the Chicago area.
OLZHASBEK ZHAKENOV: So basically, the truck company that was owned by a Kyrgyz guy, he was like we need to celebrate (our) 50 year anniversary, something like that. And he just invited a bunch of Kyrgyz people and my friend was like, ‘Let’s go with me.’ And I’m like, ‘OK.’ And they just basically rented a restaurant, had a ceremony. And they even asked me to tell my jokes in Russian, ‘cause they also know stand-up comedy.
ANITA LI: There’s a rapidly growing population of Central Asians in Chicago. In 2022, Kyrgyzstan opened a consulate in the city. The consulate estimated that the greater Chicago area has thousands of Kyrgyz people.
One of these people is Mirlanbek Nurmatov, the owner of Arzan Market. He immigrated to the United States in 2016 and opened Arzan Market two years ago. But he’s been selling Kyrgyz products to Chicagoland residents since the pandemic.
MIRLANBEK NURMATOV: It was like a shuttle bus, I took out all the seats out, I put inside the shelves and people can order, and we are going to their house, and people can shop with their family into our shuttle bus. Shuttle bus is a mobile market. When the pandemic season was done, our business kind of stopped, and we decided to convert our mobile grocery store to this regular store.
ANITA LI: For Yessenkul, the store is more than just food.
AIZERE YESSENKUL: When I first walked into the market, the shelves, the way it was arranged, it looked like I was back in Kazakhstan. I forgot for a moment that I was in Chicago. They had items of my childhood, they had the bubblegums, the waffles, and I even saw Kazakhstani chocolate bars.
ANITA LI: But besides food, the store sells traditional clothing, decorative items, even the Kyrgyz flag. Nurmatov also runs Arzan Cafe, a Central Asian restaurant, and Arzan Chaihana, a tea house where people can rent a room for larger gatherings. Both are right next to the market.
MIRLANBEK NURMATOV: This is our best seller. It looks like a small golf balls, but these are dried cheese.
ANITA LI: What is it called?
MIRLANBEK NURMATOV: Kurut!
ANITA LI: Kurut! Wow, what does it taste like?
MIRLANBEK NURMATOV: It’s like a salty cheese, but dry. It kind of stabilize your blood pressure and it makes you feel happy, it helps also your digestive system.
ANITA LI: Yessenkul isn’t the biggest fan of Kurut, but she bought a bag of crab-flavored chips, the same brand she used to have everyday as an after-school snack.
[natural sound of the chips bag]
AIZERE YESSENKUL: We would even make salads with it, you put cucumber, corn, tomatoes, imitation crabs, this, and mayonnaise.
MIRLANBEK NURMATOV: American people say vinegar. Same thing, but we say Uksus. So when they see the Uksus, oh my gosh, they are so surprised. So kind of you are not just selling a product, you are selling the nice memory.
I have one memory, one family came here. They were elderly people, and they didn’t go back a long time, so they used to live in the current Soviet Union time, and then when they come here and when they see especially that kind of stuff, they cried! And then oh my gosh, we miss so much that kind of stuff. Because it reminds them their previous life, you know? When I see that, they’re so happy, I feel also happy.
[music]
ANITA LI: For pictures of Yessenkul, Nurmatov, and Arzan Market, visit dailynorthwestern.com and find the digital version of this story.
From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Anita Li. Thanks for listening to another episode of What’s New At NU. This episode was reported and produced by me. The Audio Editor is Isabella Jacob. The Multimedia Managing editors are Anavi Prakash, Misha Manjuran Oberoi and Danny O’Grady. The Editor in Chief is Lily Ogburn.
Our theme music is “He’s Gonna Come and Get You Baby” by Xennial.
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