Traditionally, nomads are pastoral, which means they are shepherds or herders. As nomads, they have no fixed home. Instead everyone packs up and moves together when necessary, typically every season. The animals' feeding needs determine when and where the nomads will move—they move on once a grazing area is depleted, for example, or when winter approaches.

The nomads' constant travel makes it impossible for them to plant, tend, and harvest crops such as wheat for food. Instead, they rely on the animals they keep for much of their diet.

These animals include goats for the Kirghiz, reindeer for the Nenets of Siberia, and camels for the Bedouin of Arabia.

From these animals come meat and dairy products—milk, cheese, yogurt, and qurut. Qurut are sour curds that have been dried into balls. Crushed and boiled in water, qurut makes a meal when no other food is available.

Fermented milk from female horses becomes koumiss, a drink that has been popular among Central Asian nomads for centuries. It was also used in ceremonies. The first Mogul emperor described a ritual in which soldiers and horses were blessed with koumiss to ensure their safe return.

Very few parts of the animal are wasted by traditional nomads. Central Asian nomads use the stomach and other organs as storage bags.

Easily transportable foods, such as rice or dates, were also carried by the nomads. Flatbread is easy to make over a campfire. Traditionally, nomads would also trade with local communities, selling horses or sheep in exchange for beans, grains, and other items.