Black bread, vodka and caviar
To some extent, diet is a reflection of national characteristics. The Russian nation is rough and bold, simple and sincere, and the traditional diet is simple and straightforward. In the early days, Russians didn't have high dietary requirements-large quantity, heavy oil and hot food. Black bread and cabbage soup meet these three standards. A strong man who does manual labor has to eat two or three Jin of bread at a time, while hard and rough bread can only be swallowed with a lot of oily cabbage soup.
Russian black bread has a thick skin, a sour and salty taste and a color like sorghum. People who don't know the situation think that this food is inferior, and once regarded it as strong evidence that the Soviet people "suffered twice and suffered twice."
In fact, black bread is not only full of nutrition, but also easy to digest, which is very beneficial to the stomach, especially suitable for meat dishes such as fish. This is because the yeast used for brown bread fermentation contains many vitamins and biological enzymes. Hundreds of years ago, Russians learned this truth by experience. From the Duke of alexander nevsky in the13rd century to the present, the main food of Russian soldiers has been black bread.
The most delicious is the bread baked in the countryside by the method handed down from our ancestors. Bread blanks as big as a small washbasin are sent to a Russian oven with uniform temperature for slow baking, and the top grade is lollipop when they are discharged. In the ancient Russian countryside, you can make enough bread for a week at a time. This is because making bread is very troublesome and dough fermentation takes nearly two days. A big jar of noodles, hands are not hard, just wash your feet and jump in and kick.
Vodka is another portrayal of Russian national character. The direct meaning of vodka is "lovely water", and Russians have a special liking for it. Children and women are also included, and the per capita consumption here is100g per day. Vodka is generally 40 degrees, together with brandy and whisky, it is the three major spirits in the world. However, compared with whisky with iced soda before meals and brandy sipped slowly after meals, Russians are much bolder to drink vodka, even if a large glass is full, it is "boring". Vodka tastes better when chilled. It's good to drink with salted herring or black caviar, but the drinker doesn't need any appetizers. A glass of wine and a smell of brown bread are enough.
Europeans regard caviar as the first-class food, among which Russian products are the top grade. There are three kinds of caviar: gray (Pacific fish), red (salmon) and black (sturgeon). Gray tastes heavy, red is too fishy, and black is the best. Even in the 1950s, when the output of black caviar was 10 times higher than it is now, it was a rare enjoyment for Russians to eat a piece of bread with caviar butter.
Russians are warm and practical to their friends. No matter how rich or poor they are, no matter how good their cooking skills are, as the Russian proverb says, "What is in the stove is what is on the table". Russians are polite to their guests, make an appointment a week in advance, and regular customers come in to shake hands and hug and put on comfortable felt slippers; The dining table must be covered with tablecloths and napkins, and the knives, forks and porcelain plates must be wiped clean without any water stains. Russian intellectuals pay attention to "feel at home", drink whatever they want, drink as much as they want, and never persuade them to drink; If you eat your favorite dish, the host will be very happy. Toast frequently during the dinner, because Russians don't say toasting is an improper wine glass. Don't forget to propose a toast to the hostess. Russian fathers usually don't leave the kitchen. In order to entertain guests, the hostess may be busy for a day or two
The richness and diversity of Russian cuisine are especially reflected in cold dishes, such as kimchi, salad, sausage, cheese, fish jelly, etc ... Family dinners often have nearly ten kinds of cold dishes. There is generally no soup for dinner, followed by cold dishes, usually roast chicken, roast duck and grilled fish.
After eating the main course, the housewife removes the knife, fork and plate, brings out the homemade big cake or sweet pie, jam, chocolate, fruit and ice cream, and makes a pot of strong tea, which is just chatting. What American missiles, Japanese bushido, China's reform and opening up ... Sometimes the host can play the guitar, and the guests will naturally sing Russian songs in multiple parts ... For Russians, it is important to eat, but it is more important to take the opportunity to communicate with friends.
Russian food was originally very simple, as the saying goes, cabbage soup, oatmeal, Russian home cooking. However, Russians "take good advice", whether it's China jiaozi, sausage, English steak, Tatar's sheep's hoof, Ukrainian red vegetable soup, car olivier salad, and other foreign dishes, they all turned into russian cuisine in the end. Russian tableware is very simple. Everyone has a big wooden spoon in his right hand and a big piece of bread as a plate in his left hand. Cups, plates, knives and forks from western Europe only entered ordinary families in the19th century. In the early days, when farmers were eating, parents sat at one end of a long table, housewives put a big pot of cabbage soup and buttered oatmeal in the middle, and sat at the other end of the long table, while the old man and children sat on both sides of the long table. Everyone scooped up the soup and sent it to their mouths with bread. Only when the head of the family has finished scooping the soup can the rest of the family take turns drinking the soup. If the child is "offside" or scoops up two spoonfuls of soup, dad will knock his forehead with a wooden spoon as an example.
In the 1980s, foreign fast food such as McDonald's entered Russia with Gorbachev's "opening up", and the customers who came in front of the first McDonald's in Moscow lined up for hundreds of meters ... Now, Beijing roast duck, Japanese cuisine, Korean barbecue and Turkish pancakes have all settled in Moscow. Of course, Russian food has the most reasonable price and the purest taste.
Although Russians, like European and American residents, mainly eat high-fat and high-calorie meat such as cream and meat, at the same time, drinking a lot of milk and its products and drinking tea every day is very beneficial to reducing blood fat, losing weight and preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular sclerosis. Although China is mainly vegetarian, the proportion of people with cerebrovascular diseases and hyperlipidemia is very high. It may be related to eating less dairy products and drinking tea infrequently. Russian diet, dishes are still relatively rich, and the production is simple, and the time to eat is not long. Today, the pace of life is getting faster and faster, which can also be used for reference.
Russian pies accompany Russians all their lives.
Pie plays an important role in Russian food. As an important dish, pie is essential in every important festival, New Year, baptism, birthday, naming day, wedding and funeral.
Russian pie has many meanings, such as "sun", "big festival", "bumper harvest", "healthy children" and "happy marriage". An old Russian proverb says: Russians are accompanied by pies all their lives.
In Russia, not only the methods of making pies are varied, but also the materials and shapes of pies are different.
Russian pie belongs to yeast fermented pie, which can be divided into yellow rice pie, buckwheat rice pie and flour pie according to the different raw materials used. There are many shapes of Russian pies, including triangle, square, rectangle, pizza-style exposed pie, semi-exposed pie, closed pie and so on. The names of the pies are also very interesting, such as "Gureyev Ski Cake"; Named "wedding cake" for its purpose; There are also "Chinese cabbage pie", "jam pie" and "milk residue cake" named after fillings ... Most pancakes are served with honey and strawberry sweet sauce, and some pies can be served with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Pie is an ideal food or gift when drinking vodka or giving it to friends and relatives. When children quarrel at home, the mother will make a big cake for everyone to share, which means "reconciliation is as good as ever". There is also a kind of pie called "wedding pie" in Russia. Its making method is very interesting and represents a special Russian custom.
When a couple of Russian youths are preparing to get married, on the wedding day, both men and women will make a traditional pie, which consists of pancakes and several fillings, in addition to cooking all kinds of delicious food to entertain guests. And the most special thing is the cover of this pie. When making a cake cover, the patterns made by the husband and wife will be different: the pattern of the cake in the husband's family should be made into a figure of a villain, indicating that "people are prosperous", while the pattern on the wife's side should be dominated by flowers, symbolizing beauty and loyalty. Look, the seemingly simple pie is full of deep blessings. ...
Kvas, a traditional refreshing drink for Russians.
Every country has its own favorite drinks. China advocates tea, Germans and Czechs love beer, Americans like Coca-Cola, French prefer cider and lemonade, and Italians prefer orange juice. The national wine of Russians is Gowasu.
Kvas is dark in color, sweet and sour, and smells of fresh rye bread. It is one of the non-alcoholic beverages. Kvas has a history of 1000 years in Russia and is still popular today. In ancient times, people knew that it could quench thirst, effectively restore physical strength, make people energetic and help digestion.
Traditional Gowasu is made of malt (black malt and barley malt), rye flour, sugar and mint, but now it is made of bread and fruit Gowasu-apples, lemons, cranberries and so on.
Doctors and scholars want to know why Kvas is good for health. Some people say that this crop works, some people think that it is yeast put in bread making, and some people think that it is something added by Kvas. The argument did not stop. It seems that those who think that all the ingredients of Kvas are effective are right. Its ingredients are: yeast, carbohydrates, protein, organic acids, various vitamins, enzymes and minerals.
In the past, Russians could not live without kvass for a day. Drink it at work, after work and before and after meals. No wonder its practice has aroused the interest of many countries in western Europe. 1975 in the Yugoslav international competition, Kvas from Moscow scored 18, while the famous coca-cola scored only 9.8.