core foods
Russian core food historically revolves around what can be grown in the country - grains, oats, vegetables, and livestock.
The most famous salad in Russian culture is the olivier. If you think it sounds French, you're right. It was influenced by the French when their culture was introduced to Russia in feudal times.
The salad consists of diced potatoes, meat, egg, onions, carrots, and green peas all topped with a mayonnaise-based dressing. Other popular salads are vinigret and shuba. As shown in the pictures below, Russian food does not have to be all meat and potatoes. It can be fun and full of color and flavor.
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Olivier
https://honestcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Screen-Shot-2013-12-10-at-12.41.37-PM.png The vinigret was also influenced by the French. It contains diced veggies and it gets its red color from beets.
Shuba is a delicious layered salad featuring layers of herring, potatoes, and egg. Each layer is separated with a thick covering of mayonnaise. The top layer is grated beet and mayonnaise. |
Soups are also a staple in the Russian diet. The most famous and stereotypical Russian soup is a borsch.
Borsch can be served hot or cold (but it's better hot) and is boiled with potatoes, meat (usually beef), cabbage, carrot, some spices, and red beets. It is served with a dollop of sour cream on top. Another popular soup is solyanka. This soup salty and spicy, and salty meat, sausage, potato, onions, and herbs. Solyanka
https://foodibase.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/image-6-350x350.jpg |
Borsch
https://www.rednumberone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/WEB_DSC_0318_20170302_170302-2.jpg |
A popular Russian main course dish is pelmeni. These are basically bite-sized dumplings stuffed with meat, potatoes, mushrooms, or veggies. They're garnished with sour cream, black pepper, and parsley.
Golubtsi
http://internationalmenu.com/wp-content/uploads/1482-640x432.jpg Another popular dish is golubtsi. They are cabbage stuffed with meat and rice. Served with sour cream.
Pirozhki
https://www.murphygoodewinery.com/sites/default/files/Beef-Piroshki.jpg |
Pelmeni
https://homecookingfarmtotable.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/pelmeni.jpg And there's no Russian meal without pirozhki. They are fried dough stuffed with anything you want - meat, potatoes, mushrooms... anything.
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A popular Russian cake also has its roots in France. It's called the napoleon. It has many layers, but it's very simple. Each layer is a flaky dough separated with a layer of a sweet and smooth white cream.
Another popular food is blintzi. These are stuffed crepes. Blintzi
https://search.chow.com/thumbnail/1200/0/www.chowstatic.com/assets/models/promotions/photos/29422/original/cheese-blintz-recipe-chowhound.jpg A favorite is syrniki. These are fried cottage cheese patties. They're really good.
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Napoleon
https://www.thespruceeats.com/thmb/hINSRTL1Y37zaiI4lgVWpmZx3_4=/450x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-619568738-597404dd6f53ba001080a5e2.jpg Syrniki
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To some Russians, vodka is like water. Why is vodka so popular in Russia. The answer comes from the ingredients: grain or potatoes. Grains and potatoes are Russia's main agricultural output. It only makes sense that their most prevalent drink comes from their most prevalent crops.
Baltika
https://reuniaodecondominio.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/d0b1d0b0d0bbd182d0b8d0bad0b0.jpg Beer is also a staple. Russia has many breweries. Baltika is a Russian beer that can be found in America.
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Vodka
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