Тема "Русская кухня" (Russian cuisine)

Russia is a huge country and that is why Russian cuisine is a rich collection of diverse cooking traditions. Russian food has its own peculiarities due to the country’s severe climate in winter and its forests rich in berries, mushrooms in summer. Traditional Russian dishes are often made of vegetables, different crops, dairy products, fresh-water fish, poultry and meat.

For breakfast Russian people usually have milk porridge, syrniki (cottage cheese pancakes) or an omelette. Lunch is more sufficient and it often consists of a salad, a plate of soup and a main course. For dinner the Russians love fish and meat dishes with garnish (rice, buckwheat, mashed potatoes and stewed cabbage). Traditional pelmeni (meat dumplings), holodetz (meat jelly with pieces of meat, carrot and garlic) or golubtsy (cabbage rolls with minced meat) are special masterpieces of the national culinary art. The Russians also have salads, meat pies, apple pies, vareniki (cottage cheese, cherries or potatoes dumplings) and pancakes for dinner.

The most traditional Russian salads are Olivier, “Herring under a furcoat” and vinegret. All of them are a nourishing mixture of various ingredients such as boiled eggs, boiled vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beetroot), sausage or meat, onions, green peas and cucumbers.

Russian cuisine is famous for the variety of soups: shchi (cabbage soup), borsch (red beetroot soup), ukha (fish soup), solyanka (thick soup made of pickled veggies, meat and sausage) and rassolnik (pickle soup). A plate of hot and spicy soup helps to stay warm during long cold winters. And one of the favourite soups during hot summers is okroshka (cold vegetable and sausage soup based on kvas). All kinds of soups are normally dressed with sour-cream. It is notable that Russian people eat bread with all dishes.

Traditional Russian drinks are hot black tea with jam or honey, compote (stewed fruit drink) and kvas (drink made from rye bread).

The Russians are good at preserving fruits, vegetables and mushrooms. Classic Russian appetizers: pickled cabbage, tomatoes, crispy cucumbers and even apples – are always on a festive table.

Russian people have always been known for their hospitality. They are happy to welcome guests with lavish dinners with abundance of food on the table.