Russia is popular for growing and harvesting their own crops. The average growing season only lasts for about four months which puts a limit to the number of crops that can be grown. Famine has resulted in areas of rich soils, irregular rainfall, and a winter with little snow followed by a dry spring and a windy summer. The bad harvests have an immediate effect on meat as animals have to be slaughtered as they cannot be fed over the winter months. Bread has always been the central role in the Russian diet. They like dark, heavy rye bread. Below are the different meals of the day and what is usually eaten.
ZAVTRAK - BREAKFAST
This is usually a quick meal in the working week. Parents are likely to have an open sandwich with cheese, ham or salami with a cup of tea. The children tend to eat a cooked meal that consists of a boiled egg, omlette or kasha. Kasha is any cooked grain or cereal (eg.buckwheat) that is served with milk, sugar and butter.
OBED - LUNCH
This is the main meal of the day and is eaten between 1pm and 3pm. Obed starts with a small zakuska ( salt herring or some king of salad). It is followed by soup that is made from a homemade stock. If it is a chicken soup then a whole chicken will be put into the pot, if it is meat soup than a chunk of beef is simmered for two to four hours with vegetables, and is eaten with fresh vegetables, dried peas or beans, pats, rice or barley. The favourite soups are cabbage soup, Shchi, and Ukrainian beetroot soup, Borshch.
After soup the main course follows. Fish is a popular food and Russians prefer freshwater fish like carp and pike. If meat stews are eaten then they have flavourings of wild mushroom, pickled cucumber or smetana. Cabbage leaves, Golubtsy, are stuffed with meat and rice in a tomato sauce. Sosiski are frankfurter-type sausages and are also very popular. Meatball dishes are Kotleti, Bitochki, and Tefteli. The main course is served with potatoes, pasta, cereal, salt cucumbers, and are always served with bread.
Obed is finished with either coffee, tea, kompot (stewed fruit) or kisel (fruit juice thickened with cornflour).
UZHIN - SUPPER
This meal is eaten with the family around the table and news is exchanged. Soup can be served again and the main course can be from vegetables like potato cakes with mushroom sauce or tvorog, cottage cheese. Tea or milk follows.
Links to Russian recipes on the Internet
Appetisers, soups and other dishes