Soviet cuisine
Encyclopedia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, was formed by the integration of the various national cuisines of the Soviet Union, in the course of the formation of the Soviet people
Soviet people
Soviet people or Soviet nation was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Initially used as a nonspecific reference to the Soviet population, it was eventually declared to be a "new historical, social and international unity of people".-Nationality politics in early Soviet...
. It is characterized by a limited number of ingredients and simplified cooking. This type of cuisine was prevalent in canteens everywhere in the Soviet Union. It became an integral part of household cuisine and was used in parallel with national dishes, particularly in large cities. Generally, Soviet cuisine was shaped by Soviet eating habits and a very limited availability of ingredients in most parts of USSR. Most dishes were simplifications of French, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian cuisines. Caucasian cuisines, particularly Georgian dishes, contributed as well.
In the West, Soviet cuisine is frequently mistaken for Russian cuisine, though national Russian cuisine is quite different.
Approach
An everyday Soviet full course mealFull course dinner
A full course dinner is a dinner consisting of multiple dishes, or courses. In its simplest form, it can consist of three or four courses, such as soup, salad, meat and dessert.-Form:...
(lunch or dinner) consisted of three or four courses, typically referred to as "the first", "the second", "the third", and "the fourth". An optional salad
Salad
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
was not "numbered". Of course, in a restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
one could order anything one liked, in any order, but in a typical canteen, especially in a worker's or student's canteen, one would normally have received what was called a "combined lunch" ("kompleksny obed"): "the first",.. etc.
"The first" was a soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
or broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
, i.e., "liquid" food. "The second" was some kind of "solid" food: meat, fish, or poultry with a side dish, called "garnish" (}. Garnishes typically included potatoes in a variety of forms, buckwheat kasha
Kasha
Kasha is a cereal commonly eaten in Eastern Europe. In English, kasha generally refers to buckwheat groats, but in Slavic countries, kasha refers to porridge in general and can be made from any cereal, especially buckwheat, wheat, barley, oats, millet, and rye...
, macaroni
Macaroni
Macaroni is a variety of moderately extended, machine-made, dry pasta made with durum wheat. Macaroni noodles do not contain eggs, and are normally cut in short, hollow shapes; however, the term refers not to the shape of the pasta, but to the kind of dough from which the noodle is made...
, etc. Bliny, baked dishes ( zapekanka), or eggs could also be served as "the second". "The third" was something to drink: tea, coffee, kompot
Kompot
thumb|Dried plum kompotthumb|Apple and quince kompotKompot is a traditional drink in Central and Eastern European countries. It is a light, refreshing drink most often made of dried or fresh fruit boiled in water with sugar and left to cool and infuse...
, milk, kefir, etc. "The fourth" was a dessert.
Green vegetables and salads were rare, seasonal, and with some exceptions uncommon at the table. Due to this, Soviets generally lacked nutrition and were vitamin deficient. Spices were rarely used and food had a generally mild taste. There were no differences between breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. Lunch was always consumed with a soup as a first course. A lot of households used to eat fish instead of meat on Thursdays. The common approach, which still holds today in Russia is : "Eat a lot, few times a day. Eat nothing between meals". A typical lunch meal could consist of chicken broth based soup or borscht for a first course and fried meatballs or goulash served with boiled potatoes or buckwheat porridge as a main course. Butter or sour cream was used instead of sauce.
Holiday meals were typically derived from old French and Russian cuisines with extensive use of heavy sauces, marinated meats and melted cheese. Mixing ingredients and extensive cooking is common, just as at classic French cuisine. Generally, people put a lot effort in order to prepare such meals. Often, richness of a holiday table was an issue of honor for the family.
Typical dishes
First course
- BorschtBorschtBorscht is a soup of Ukrainian origin that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. In most of these countries, it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient, giving it a deep reddish-purple color...
(Russian-Ukrainian) - ShchiShchiShchi is a Russian soup with cabbage as the primary ingredient. Its primary distinction is its sour taste, which usually originates from cabbage. When sauerkraut is used instead, the soup is called sour shchi, and soups based on sorrel, spinach, nettle, and similar plants are called green shchi...
(Russian) - Any kind of Eastern European soupSoupSoup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
Second course
- Chicken KievChicken KievChicken Kiev is a popular dish of boneless chicken breast pounded and rolled around cold garlic butter with herbs, then breaded and either fried or baked.-Etymology:...
- (RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n) - a filled chicken cutlet - CutletCutletCutlet refers to:# a thin slice of meat from the leg or ribs of veal, pork, or mutton # a fried cutlet# a croquette made of minced meat...
and SausageSausageA sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
- (International) - PelmeniPelmeniPelmeni are dumplings consisting of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough that originated in Siberia and is a dish of Russian cuisine. Pelmeni are common in Russia and have similar names in other languages: , pyal’meni; pilmän; , pel’meni; ; .- Ingredients :The dough is made from flour and...
- (RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n) - Plov (UzbekUzbeksThe Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
) - rice dish - ShashlikShashlikShashlyk or Shashlik , is a form of Shish kebab popular throughout Israel, Lithuania, former Soviet Union, Iran, Mongolia, and parts of central Europe. Shashlyk is originally lamb depending on local preferences and religious observances...
- (CaucasusCaucasusThe Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
) - VarenikiVarenikithumb|right|Varenyks with [[curd]]Varenyky are a kind of stuffed dumpling associated with Ukrainian cuisine. Variants are also found in Moldovan, Mennonite, Belarusian, Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish cooking. They are believed to originate from Chinese and Siberian influences, although sometimes...
- (UkrainianUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
)
Third course
Usually served in 200ml glassGlass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
es in common diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
s of obshchepit
Obshchepit
Obshchepit was an industry in the former Soviet Union which handled food service via a system of "public eating establishments": diners, cafeteria, restaurants, etc....
.
- Cocoa
- CoffeeCoffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
with milk (black coffeeBlack CoffeeBlack coffee may refer to:* Coffee, served as a beverage without cream or milk-Music:* "Black Coffee" , written by Sonny Burke, the lyrics by Paul Francis Webster* Black Coffee , 1956...
was an extra) - KefirKefirKefir is a fermented milk drink that originated with shepherds of the North Caucasus region, who discovered that fresh milk carried in leather pouches would occasionally ferment into an effervescent beverage...
(TurkicTurkic peoplesThe Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
) - KisselKisselKissel or kisel is a fruit soup, popular as a dessert in Eastern and Northern Europe. It consists of sweetened juice, thickened with arrowroot, cornstarch or potato starch, and sometimes red wine or fresh or dried fruits are added...
, (drinkable starchStarchStarch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
-based fruit jelly) - KompotKompotthumb|Dried plum kompotthumb|Apple and quince kompotKompot is a traditional drink in Central and Eastern European countries. It is a light, refreshing drink most often made of dried or fresh fruit boiled in water with sugar and left to cool and infuse...
(Slavic) - MilkMilkMilk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
- TeaTeaTea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
Salads and extras
- Olivie or Russky salad—a mayonnaiseMayonnaiseMayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
-based potato saladPotato saladPotato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes, the versions of which vary throughout different regions and countries of the world. Although called a salad, it is generally considered a side dish, as it generally accompanies the main course....
distinguished by its diced texture and the contrasting flavors of picklesPickled cucumberA pickled cucumber is a cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solution and left to ferment for a period of time, by either immersing the cucumbers in an acidic solution or through souring by lacto-fermentation.-Gherkin:A gherkin is not only...
, capers, oliveOliveThe olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, hard-boiled eggs and peaPeaA pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s. Similar to a Russian saladRussian saladSalade Olivier is a salad composed of diced potatoes, vegetables and meats bound in mayonnaise. The salad is usually called Russian salad in Western European and Latin American countries, and Salad Olivieh in Iranian cooking.-History:...
. - Vinegret (from French vinaigretteVinaigretteThe word vinaigrette or vinegarette can refer to:*Vinaigrette, the salad dressing or sauce...
)—red beet root salad with onions, pickles, boiled potatoes, carrots, sunflower oil and vinegar. - Vitaminniy (Vitamin salad)—a cabbage-based salad with seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, carrot, etc.