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Adult women (N = 270) in rural livestock-owning households were surveyed in three ecological regions in Kazakstan during the summer of 1998 to determine their sources of food, seasonality of food availability, arid associations between diet and resources. Food patterns in each ecological region were maintained through agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, cash purchases, and supplemented by hunting-gathering and food exchanges. Household food resources, defined by livestock and land holdings as well as household food production, varied by ecological Zones. Cattle were more common in North and Center households while sheep and goat were more common in the South. Fresh meat was consumed throughout the year by more than 60% of households surveyed, but intakes declined during spring. Center households produced and consumed significantly more varieties of dairy products. Land holdings including gardens, orchards, and crop fields were more present in South households and they grew and consumed more varieties of fruits and vegetables than elsewhere. Household production provided basic foodstuffs at 60 percent of households interviewed, specifically bread, dairy and meat products, eggs, and vegetables. Bazaar purchases provided what households did not produce. Households in the South reported the fewest purchases. Dietary patterns were seasonal, highly dependent on household production, closely related to the type of livestock kept, arid regional differences were significant. Given the general lack of disposable income reported-more than 60 percent of households reported sales of livestock due to lack of money-livestock owning rural households of Kazakstan were functioning mostly at a subsistence level.