Uzbek cuisine is a fascinating phenomenon because its traditions were shaped by interesting geography, climate and history. It is a double-land-locked country, therefore the lack of seafood and saltwater plants forced them to get inventive. Luckily, the agricultural heaven, which the region was in until the Soviet state's imbecilic decisions killed the Aral Sea, provided enormous variety. Imagine, the nature there even not too long ago was nothing short of amazing. There were species of tigers that went extinct in the 1970s (!) and freshwater fish that had existed nowhere else.

The geopolitical placement of the region made it a desirable target for invasions, and indeed that happened many times - Persians, Greeks/Macedonians, Seleucids, Greco-Bactrians, Scythians, Xiongnu, Huns, Arabs, Mongols, Chinese, Russians, etc. And every invader brought their cultural norms, and food traditions. Forced deportation of Koreans (by Stalin) added more to the pile. Fun fact: "traditional" Korean dishes of Central Asia have no equivalents in actual Korean cuisine, because people couldn't grow or find the ingredients endemic to the Korean peninsula, so they had to make their own, unique recipes.

Uzbeks take enormous pride in their cuisine and it is ingrained in their DNA - they can easily justify prepping a dish for weeks, then cooking it for over twenty hours, absolutely intending it to be devoured in less than fifteen minutes. That is the [uzbek] way.