In my long and very traveled life, I have been fortunate enough to visit many parts of the world. While traveling the world and researching remote places relative to Crown Point, IN, it is costly. Nonetheless, I am glad that I spent the money necessary to see the world. Nonetheless, there are many places yet unseen by me. I want to visit Ukraine and see their transformation from a Russian satellite to a country free to exercise their beliefs. Another place to which I want to travel is Mongolia.

Mongolia and Bhutan are the only two places on the Asian continent that I have not visited. If I had the money today, I would be in Mongolia within the week. I interviewed Dr. John Woods about his attempt to find Genghis Khan's burial place located somewhere in Mongolia.

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan conquered much of the known world. His military adventures stretched from Mongolia to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As a result, historians estimate that 40-million people died due to his Mongol Empire.

This is the Mongol Empire, for which Genghis Khan conquered.

Genghis Khan has many monuments scattered throughout Mongolia. This monument is of him astride his horse. The entire statue is 131 feet high and is located just outside Ulan Bator, which is Mongolia's capital. The statue surveys the vast empire that he created along with his great wealth and treasures. Imagine what would be found if someone could find his burial place.

These two photos are of Genghis Khan in Mongolia.

Look at the relative size of the monument in comparison to the two people walking up the stairs toward the statue.

Genghis Khan was a great warrior; they called him the emperor of all emperors. He led his Mongol cavalry on their conquest through much of the known world.

The Galloping Gourmet, aka Genghis Khan

His horsemen were called the Golden Horde having conquered Mongolia, China, Russia, and Persia. Genghis Khan had a cautionary warning to his military and to the rest of us, "If you're afraid...don't do it. If you're doing it...don't be afraid." Another warning that I especially like was, "An action committed in anger is an action doomed to failure."

The Mongol Empire

Interestingly, Genghis Khan and his Golden Horde did so having his massive army primarily on horseback. As a result, he became the Graham Kerr and the Galloping Gourmet of the Mongolian Steppes. That being said, how did Genghis Khan conquer so much area even with his large cavalry from 1206 to 1227?

It intrigued me that Genghis Khan said, "Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard." Aside from his strategy and military planning, Genghis Khan's cavalry cooked as they rode. He will have cut up the horsemeat and put it into bags. The horsemen would ride with the bags of horsemeat between the saddle and the horse that they were riding. A day of riding not only tenderized the horsemeat but also cooked it. That process of cutting up pieces of meat is the culinary basis of what we call mincemeat.

Therefore, Genghis Khan and his cavalry were able to move vast distances in a day's time, because he could feed his warriors while they rode. Interestingly, the Turks and the Russians referred to the Mongols as Tartars. That nomenclature was the basis of the term for steak tartare. This is a recipe for steak tartare.

Additionally, the Golden Horde's technique of eating on the run has morphed, over the centuries, into what we do when eating on the run. We have a hamburger at the Golden Arches of McDonalds. Genghis Khan invented what we call hamburger.

05/29/15