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This article aims at offering a broad perspective on the evolution and changes of the national Sakha kumys, a beverage made up of raw mare's milk that is quite popular in the Middle Asia area, above all among Turkic-speaking nomadic cattle breeders such as Kazaks, Bashkirs, Tatars, Tuvans, Altaians, and Sakha. I argue that, in spite of its use as an everyday commodity of the Sakha's diet until the beginning of the twentieth century, today it appears to be the marker of the “degree” of cultural authenticity of the Sakha people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]