Friday, October 19, 2007

Russian cuisine

Traditional Russian cuisine is an important part of Russian national culture. Russian cuisine is one of the most popular and widely spread in the world. French cuisine is festive and elegant, Chinese cuisine is exotic, Russian cuisine is healthy and delicious. Russian cuisine derives its rich and varied character from the vast and multicultural expanse of Russia. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of plentiful fish, poultry, game, mushrooms, berries, and honey. Crops of rye, wheat, barley, and millet provided the ingredients for a plethora of breads, pancakes, cereals, kvass, beer, and vodka. Flavorful soups and stews centered on seasonal or storable produce, fish, and meats. Pies have always been a part of the holiday fare. The pies are customarily filled with different kinds of meat, fish, and berries. Large areas covered by woods and forests were abundant in berries and mushrooms and this accounted for a wealth of “gifts of the forests” on the Russian table.
Russian cuisine was renowned for diverse delicacies, especially refreshments (zakuski), made of fish. Russian rivers, lakes and seas yielded much of this tasty and useful kind of food. Soups and stews that were made from the poultry and meats that were hunted, were richly flavored and popular meals throughout the cold winter months. Bread is a staple of Russian cuisine, and there’s nothing in the world to compare to Russian black rye bread. Heavy and meaty, with a characteristic ’sour’ taste, Russian rye bread is nearly hearty enough to be a meal in and of itself, and a meal is not complete without bread.
Russian cuisine represents a wonderful bouquet of many cultural traditions and influences that have been absorbed over many centuries. For instance, a drink as Russian today as tea, was brought to Russia as the most precious gift from a Mongolian khan. Today Russia is the largest importer of tea in the world, and Russians drink tea 3–5 times a day. Tea has always been served with candies, pies, pryaniki (Russian gingerbread) and pastries.

As centuries passed, growing contacts with Western countries led to numerous borrowings in Russian cooking, enriching Russian cookery. Smoked meat, pastry cooking, wines and chocolate are a few culinary items that were introduced in the 16th to the 18th century. Although most of these refined foods were only available to the rich and aristocratic circles in Russia, it added to the Russian cuisine and meals that would become traditional Russian dishes. Primordial Russian products such as caviar, smetana (sour cream), buckwheat, rye flour, etc. have had a great influence on world-wide cuisine.


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