Russian Food

Russian national cuisine uses lots of grains and roots, vegetables and everything else that vast lands, rich woods and a plentiful of lakes and rivers have to offer. Russian food features lots of fish, mushrooms and berries. Because of the harsh climate, Russians have a limited variety of ingredients, but this hardship has been compensated with creative recipes and combinations. Russians have invented a mind-boggling variety of soups and, because they had to preserve food for cold winters, they have made a science out of pickling vegetables.

Later, with the development of Russia and expansion of its territories to the Western Europe during the 16th-18^th, Russian kitchens of aristocrats incorporated the most sophisticated recipes from Austria, Germany and France to their meals.

One of the most important ingredients in Russian cuisine is potatoes. In early 18^th century Peter the Great brought potatoes to Russia (they had been discovered in South America). At first, potatoes were available to elites only and were considered poisonous by the peasants. Over time, potatoes have become the central element in almost every Russian dish, fried, boiled, baked, mashed, cooked as cakes and so fourth.

Contemporary Russian cuisine is truly delicious. It is also healthy because it mostly relies on naturally grown ingredients. It is also very filling because Russian dishes have tons of vegetable oil, sour cream and mayo.

Russian breakfasts are very similar to those in some western countries. For breakfast, Russians almost always drink tea with a sandwich with meat (kolbasa), or fried eggs or omelets (but without bacon). Sometimes they make blini, which are thin pancakes, which pre-dated and are similar to French crepes.

Russian lunch is somewhat different from what you are used to. Russians have a mind-boggling a variety of soups: rassolnik - chicken soup with pickles, salanka - meat soup with olives and sausages, okroshka - cold soup made of chopped vegetables, red borsh - beet soup, orange borsh - cabbage soup, soup s frikadlkami - meatball soup, uha - fish soup and the list goes on. There is one secret that makes Russian soups so good - podjarka - which is a pre-frying of chopped onions, graded carrots and a little but of garlic in vegetable oil. When carrots take on a golden hue and onions become transparent "podjarka" is added to the soup.

Russians dinners are similar to any western cuisine as they feature variety of fried meats and fish. Meals are served with rich salads (the recipe of the most popular salad is very simple: cucumbers + tomatoes +onions + sour cream/mayo), picketed vegetables, and boiled of fried potatoes. Some dishes are more creative than others and take a while to make. For instance, pelmeni, which is pieces of meat wrapped in dough and boiled in water (a bit similar to ravioli). Golbuci is another time-consuming dish. Golubci is ground beef with rice wrapped in cabbage leaves and stewed in an oven for 3 hours.

Of course, every Russian meal is accompanied with traditional drinks: tea, mors (juice of boiled berries) or kvas (wheat juice), vodka, and increasingly beer.

One of the best ways to taste Russian cuisine is during large holidays such as birthdays or New Year's Eve. For holidays, Russians tend to cook five times more food that they can actually eat. There are usually three or four delicious courses in a typical holiday feast.

Russians are not accustomed to eating out. Until recently, many could not afford to eat out, but the times are changing and today, it is much more common for the city dwellers to dine in restaurants not just on holidays, but on typical days as well. Even though there are many ethnic places to eat, most restaurants cater to traditional Russian food described above. It will be interesting to see how the inflow of the new recipes and food ideas will be reflected on the Russian cuisine.