Uzbek Bread is the second book in a collection of books called Kidz Kulture by Janice M. West. Kidz Kulture books focus on little known cultures of people who can be found living in the U.S. The author wants children, their parents, and teachers to celebrate the cultures of America. America is a beautiful coat of many colors, with people from so many meaningful and diverse backgrounds and the culture of the Uzbek people is just one of them. The author hopes that these Kidz Kulture books will encourage children to read more about the cultures of others as well as their own.
Uzbekistan is a landlocked country north of Afghanistan which itself has a diverse cultural heritage. The countrys official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language spoken natively by about 85% of its people. Russian is also widely used. Because of its history and its location, Uzbek people have a variety of appearances. Some Uzbek people have a typical Russian appearance, others look more similar to Turks, and still others have a Mongolian appearance due to having a heritage link to the ethnic groups from the line of Genghis Khan. This exciting mixture of cultures can be seen in Ubekistans clothing, architecture and foods.
America began to experience some migration of Uzbek people in the 1950s. A small number have continued to come up until this time but it has been an extremely slow migration of people in general. Today, more than 20, 000 Uzbek people reside in the U.S.