Tsarist feasts in Russia: How the feast was arranged, and what happened to the gluttons during the celebration. Alcohol during feasts

On October 2, many countries celebrate the Day of the Feast, which, unfortunately, is little known in our country. In Russia, they loved the feast since ancient times, we all know about princely feasts, and about Peter's assemblies, and about a wide peasant party. Even in the Soviet years of the shortage for the holidays, almost everyone's tables were full of food.

But it seems to me that the feast of the feast is not a reason to run for alcohol. Rather, it is a reason to get together with the whole family, invite relatives, friends and chat at a beautifully decorated table, over a cup of tea and sincere conversation. After all, if you think about it, then most families so rarely get together at the same table. Unfortunately, the traditions of family meals, so beautifully described by many of our classics, have been lost.

Even in Soviet times, almost all families gathered together for dinner and exchanged with each other the events that occurred during the day, talked about their successes, consulted and simply showed kindred feelings to each other.

In our time, people lack the warmth of the family hearth. Therefore, I suggest that everyone gather at one table at least on the day of the feast. Do not forget to invite grandmothers, grandfathers, parents, brothers, sisters, children and everyone who is dear to your heart.

Maybe this one will gradually take root in our homes and become a state one.

And most importantly, maybe people will no longer feel alone among the crowd in the stone jungles of megacities.

After all, if someone smiles at you, pours a cup of tea, puts a salad, a piece of pie or cake on a plate, it means that you are not indifferent, you are loved, you are not alone in this world.

Let's try to cook something tasty and healthy for a family holiday ...

Swede puree soup

You will need:

1 medium rutabaga;
- 4 potatoes;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flour;
- 10 g of dill greens;
- 10 g of parsley;
- 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of butter;
- sour cream for dressing;
- salt, pepper to taste.

Cooking method:

Peel the rutabagas, chop, put in boiling water, cook until half cooked, add potatoes cut into slices, salt, cook until tender. Remove vegetables and rub through a sieve.

Put in broth, add flour fried in butter, mix, boil a little.

When serving, season with sour cream and sprinkle with chopped dill and parsley.

Tomato soup

You will need:

6 medium tomatoes;
- 1-2 onions;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flour;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of olive oil;
- 10 g of parsley;
- 10 g of dill greens;
- sour cream for dressing;
- salt, pepper to taste.

Cooking method:

Cut into slices, add chopped onion and half of the parsley to them and simmer in a deep frying pan, adding, if there is not enough juice, a little water. Then grind everything, turning into mashed potatoes.

Mix the olive oil and fry with flour until golden brown. Mix with vegetable mass, put in a saucepan, pour water to the desired thickness, bring to a boil, cook for about 5 minutes, season with salt, pepper, cook for another 5 minutes.

When serving, season with sour cream and sprinkle with the second half of chopped dill and parsley.

Hake fillet with horseradish

You will need:

500 g fillet;
- 80 g horseradish;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flour;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of lemon juice;
- vegetable oil;
- salt to taste.

Cooking method:

Put the grated horseradish into a greased brazier - with a layer of half a centimeter, a layer of fillets on top, again a layer of horseradish and fish. The top layer should be fillet.

Add lemon juice, salt, add water and simmer under the lid, leaving a tiny crack in a preheated oven.

Salted herring with mushrooms

You will need:

1-2 herring;
- 1-2 onions;
- autumn mushrooms;
- vegetable oil;
- 10 g of dill greens.

Cooking method:

Remove all bones from the herring, cut into slices, put in the herring.

Cut the onion into rings and fry in vegetable oil until pink.

Sort out, rinse, boil, cut into slices, put on the onion, fry and put everything from the pan on the herring. Sprinkle with chopped dill on top.

Vegetable salad with celery

You will need:

2 medium celery roots;
- 2 carrots;
- 1 medium beet;
- 200-300 g of white cabbage;
- 10 g of celery (can be replaced with parsley);
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice;
- vegetable oil;
- salt to taste.

Cooking method:

Coarsely grate celery, carrots, beets, salt. Wrinkle a little with your hands and leave for half an hour.

Chop the cabbage separately, add a little salt, mash and also leave for half an hour. Then mix all the vegetables, add lemon juice, season with vegetable oil, sprinkle with chopped celery.

If desired, you can fill with sour cream.

Potato salad

You will need:

2 medium potatoes;
- 1 cucumber;
- 15-18 radishes;
- 1 small can of canned green peas;
- 10 g of dill greens;
- 20 g green onions;
- sour cream and mayonnaise for dressing in equal proportions;
- salt to taste.

Cooking method:

Boil potatoes in their skins, cut into pieces. Cut the cucumber into slices and chop the dill and green onion. Drain the liquid from the peas, mix everything, salt, pepper, season with a mixture of sour cream and mayonnaise.

Cottage cheese cream

You will need:

1 pack of curd mass with vanilla;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of flour;
- 3-4 eggs;
- 2 glasses of milk;
- 1 teaspoon of gelatin.

Cooking method:

Dissolve the flour in 1 glass of cold milk, boil the second glass of milk and mix with the first, boil until thick, cool.

Separate the yolks and whites. Beat the whites separately. Grind the yolks with sugar, add the cheese mass, grind again.

Mix with cream, add gelatin, dissolved in water according to the instructions, mix well, mix with proteins.

Arrange in vases and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Cocktail orange

You will need:

1 carrot;
- 1 apple;
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil;
- juice of 1 orange;
- 1 glass of heavy cream;
- salt, pepper to taste.

Cooking method:

Mix cream, olive oil, orange juice, salt and pepper. Add the carrots grated on a fine grater, mix gently, pour into glasses, garnish with an orange slice or a sprig of parsley.

How they feasted in the old days in Russia.

Most of the detailed descriptions of Russian cuisine at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, we can find among foreign travelers, who, by some unknown wind, were brought to “barbarian Russia”.

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For Russians, luxurious feasts were commonplace, not worthy of being mentioned in letters or memoirs, while foreign guests were impressed by the hospitality, insane generosity and transcendent luxury of the Russian nobility.

“At that time hospitality was a hallmark of Russian customs,” the Frenchman Hippolyte Auger recalled in his Notes. "You could have come to the house for dinner and sat down at it without an invitation."

According to the French actress Mademoiselle Fuselle, who lived in Russia from 1806 to 1812, “There is a custom in Russian houses that once you are accepted, you are not invited, and you would be unhappy if you did not do it often enough: this is one of old customs of hospitality ”.

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“It is known that in the old years, at the end of the last century, the hospitality of our bars reached fabulous limits,” the poet and memoirist Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky echoes them. - Daily open table for 30, 50 people was an ordinary thing. Whoever wanted to sit at this table: not only relatives and close friends, but also unfamiliar and sometimes completely unfamiliar to the owner. ".

In one of the issues of the magazine "Rumor" for 1831, in the section "Fashions", one can find the following description of the rich dining room: “In the elegant dining rooms there are gilded bronze tripods in the corners, supporting huge vessels of ice in which bottles are placed, etc. Extraordinary luxury prevails at breakfasts. The napkins are decorated around the edges with sewing, and in the middle of them are the initial letters of the name of the owner of the house. Various porcelain vessels with bouquets of flowers are placed in all corners. They also cover stoves and fireplaces in dining rooms and other ceremonial rooms. "

The beginning of the dinner was solemn, the hosts and guests walked to music, in dance, "in a Polish or polonaise, or in a ceremonial march, from the living room in long Polish pairs, decorously to the dining room."

According to Franz Liszt, the polonaise “was not at all a banal and senseless walk; he was a defile, during which the whole society, so to speak, was dignified, enjoyed its contemplation, seeing itself so beautiful, so noble, so magnificent, so courteous. "

Indeed, during the procession to the music, the guests showed themselves, their attire, grace of manners and secularity. “Every man puts his elbow to the lady, and this whole procession of 30-40 couples solemnly performs to the sound of music and sits down for a three-hour dinner feast,” Miss Mary Wilmot, a pupil of Princess Dashkova, said in a letter to her family in England.

“Lunch usually consisted of 7-8 entres,” recalled the famous scientist, theorist of church singing Yuri Karlovich Arnold. - After the 3rd break, the most honorable guest rises and proclaims a toast to the health of the Sovereign Emperor and the entire August Royal House. Then another honored guest wishes health and happiness to the owner, the third drinks to the health of the hostess. With every change, the guilt changes, and the society is more and more inspired; toasts are growing; the father proclaims a toast in honor of the gracious guests, followed by other toasts; and when it comes to the 5th, 6th change, then a general mixed hum goes through the hall. "

As for food, the dinner table was traditionally preceded by a snack bar.

The famous traveler the Marquis de Custine recalled: “In the North, it is customary to serve a light meal before the main meal - right in the living room, a quarter of an hour before sitting down at the table; this preliminary treat — a kind of breakfast that turns into lunch — serves to whet the appetite and is called, in Russian, if I am right, "appetizer."

Servants serve on trays plates with fresh caviar, which is eaten only in this country, with smoked fish, cheese, salted meat, crackers and various pastries, sweet and savory; bitters, vermouth, French vodka, London porter, Hungarian wine and Danzig balsam are also served; they all eat and drink while standing, walking around the room. A foreigner who does not know local customs and does not have a very strong appetite may well get enough of all this, after which he will sit as a simple spectator for the whole dinner, which will be completely unnecessary for him. "

Elena Lavrentieva in the book "The Culture of the Feast of the XIX Century" writes:

“We will begin the conversation about the composition of the noble feast of the early 19th century with a story about the dishes of Russian national cuisine. Unfortunately, the names of many of them are unfamiliar to the modern Russian, and some of the traditional products of the Russian national cuisine in our time are considered refined, expensive and therefore available only to wealthy buyers.

Soup was an indispensable dish at the dinner table. As you know, Russian cuisine is famous for a very rich assortment of soups. “When the dinner is not ceremonial and relatives and friends are present at it, then all deep bowls for soup are usually placed in front of the hostess, who in this case pours the soup herself, and the footman carries it to those sitting at the table. At large ceremonial dinners, soup in deep bowls is already preliminarily placed in front of the device of each guest, ”we read in the“ Encyclopedia of a Russian Experienced and Countrywoman ”.

Of the hot soups, cabbage soup and ukha were especially popular in the 19th century, and botvinia was among the cold ones. Cabbage soup occupies a special place among Russian national soups. Foreigners who visited Russia admired the taste of Russian cabbage soup. A. Dumas even included the cabbage soup recipe in his cookbook. Pies or pies with meat filling were usually served with cabbage soup made from fresh cabbage, and crumbly buckwheat porridge was served with sauerkraut soup.

“If the turtle soup belongs to England, then the fish soup belongs to Russia,” the famous Karem said.

They cooked fish soup from different species of fish. Noble breeds gave the broth a delicate, delicate taste, and the so-called fish fines (ruffs, perches) made the broth more rich and aromatic. Burbot liver ("offal") was added to the combined ear.

When they cooked the master's fish soup, the fish was boiled in cucumber brine, and the base of the drunk fish soup was sour “shti”: “Boil whitefish, pike perch, burbot, perch or sterlet in sour fish; when it boils well, then pour in white wine and French vodka, also lemon and various roots and let it boil again; when serving, put toasted dry bread in it and sprinkle with salt, pepper and nut nut "(from the book" An Old Russian Housewife, Housekeeper and Cook ").

The hosts loved to amaze the guests with the sheer size of the fish dishes. The steam boiler, which was served at one of the dinners at the famous rich man Vsevolozhsk boiled sturgeon, was carried on "some kind of platform" by four hefty "kitchen men".

Traditional Russian dishes include poultry dishes: turkey with lemon; chicken noodles; chickens in pickle; fried goose with apples; duck coated with cucumbers; chicken in gruel; fried chicken filled with eggs; goose and duck offal ”.

Foreigners were extremely surprised by the abundance of fruits that were available to the Russian aristocracy even in the middle of the most severe winter.

“Lunch lasted nearly four hours,” recalls Mary Wilmot. - There were asparagus, grapes and everything that you can imagine, and this in winter, in a 26-degree frost. Imagine how perfect the art of a gardener should be, who managed to ensure that nature forgot about the seasons and bears fruit for these lovers of luxury. The grapes are literally the size of a pigeon's egg.

In another letter, she says: “We lead an absent-minded lifestyle. Endless balls, lasting four hours in a row, dinners serving all kinds of delicacies, the fruits of the joint labor of nature and man: fresh grapes, pineapples, asparagus, peaches, plums, etc. I forgot to mention that now in Moscow there are thousands of orange trees hanging fruits "

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Many city estates of the Moscow nobility were famous for greenhouses and greenhouses.

According to Mary's sister, Catherine Wilmot, “greenhouses are essential here. Them in Moscow

a great many, and they reach very large sizes: I had to walk between rows of pineapple trees - in each row there were a hundred palms in tubs, and other trees grew in the greenhouse beds. "

In the magazine "Moskovityanin" from 1856 there are recollections of "Moscow at the table", where he painted the whole order of serving dishes "in the old days", that is, even before the Napoleonic invasion.

“Usually, after the vodka in different decanters, decanters and bottles, stood on a special table with personal snacks from balyk, salmon, pressed caviar, fried liver, hard-boiled eggs, served hot, mainly consisting of sour, lazy, or green cabbage soup, or veal soup, or from pickle with chicken, or from Little Russian borscht (the last dish very often appeared on the table of Count Razumovsky, a native Little Russian).

This was followed by two or three cold dishes, such as: ham, goose with cabbage, borage with onion, pork head with horseradish, pike perch with galantine, pike with eggs, boiled sturgeon, prefabricated vignigret of poultry, cabbage, cucumbers, olives , capers and eggs; sometimes they served beef jelly with kvass, sour cream and horseradish, or boiled pig and botvinya, mainly with beluga. After the cold one, there were certainly two sauces; in this section, the most common dishes were - duck with mushrooms, veal liver with chopped lung, veal head with prunes and raisins, lamb with garlic, doused with red sweet sauce; Little Russian dumplings, dumplings, brains with green peas, poulard fricassee with mushrooms and white sauce, or a boiled pie doused with hot cranberry jelly with sugar. The fourth break consisted of fried turkeys, ducks, geese, piglets, veal, black grouse, hazel grouses, partridges, sturgeon with pictures, or lamb sides with buckwheat porridge. Pickled cucumbers, olives, olives, pickled lemons and apples were served instead of salad.

Lunch ended with two cakes, wet and dry. Wet cakes included: blancmange, campotes, various cold jelly with cream, apple and berry pies (something like today's soufflés), biscuits with broken cream, scrambled eggs in bowls with jam (also what modern chefs call omelet or French scrambled eggs) , ice cream and creams. These dishes were called wet cakes because they were eaten with spoons; dry cakes were taken by hand. The favorite foods of this variety were: puff pies, franchipans, levashniki, jerks, marshmallows, pancakes with jam, scalded pancakes and macaroons.

Moreover, hot dishes were always served with either pies, or juices, or cheesecakes, or pies and pies. Kulebyaka still retained its primitive character: even then it was a huge pie with a wide variety of fillings, made of dry porcini mushrooms, minced veal, vizigi, semolina, Sarachin millet, salmon, eels, burbot fish, and so on. and so on. Pies and pies for the most part had a fatty meat filling with onions, or with cabbage, eggs, carrots, and very rarely with turnips.

All this was sprinkled with wines and drinks decent for dinner. Kvass was placed on the table: simple, red, apple, raspberry and sour cabbage soup. Beers, velvet, almond, pink with cinnamon, and black (in the kind of porter) were placed next to the kvass. The officials incessantly poured the guests into wide glasses of wine: Madeira, port, Cypriot, Lisbon, Hungarian, and into glasses: lacrima, cristi, malaga, lunel. But most of all they drank liqueurs and ratafias of various varieties

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After an hour and a half dinner, the host and guests got up from the table.
Those wishing to eat coffee; but the majority preferred to drink a glass or two of punch, and then all bowed to the noble hospitality, knowing that for him and for them, according to Russian custom, an afternoon rest was necessary.

"This is how our grandfathers and fathers lived in the old days!Yes, who loves to eat well, he will surely love Moscow, he will be at ease in Belokamennaya ... "

The feasts of Russian princes, boyars and tsars, with their luxury, abundance of food and drinks, were not inferior to the famous Roman orgies. The sophisticated gluttony of the feasting and the culinary fantasies of the chefs knew no bounds. Ancient sources brought to us dozens of menus of * great * feasts. One of these feasts, for example, was organized by Prince Svyatoslav in 1183 in Kiev on the occasion of the consecration of a new church. As the chronicler notes, everyone was cheerful after the feast.

The main laughing intoxicating drink at that time was honey. Honey was an obligatory drink of the festive meal of the then nobility. The Laurentian Chronicle reports how in 945 Princess Olga ordered the Drevlyans to boil a lot of honey, ostensibly in order to celebrate the funeral of Prince Igor, who had been killed by them. The tragic role played by honey in the insidious performance played by the vengeful wife of the deceased prince testifies to the fact that in those days the Russians knew how to cook rather strong honey.

Boehm Elizaveta Merkuryevna * The princess also brought a glass of honey, green wine *

The same chronicle tells about a grandiose feast arranged in 996 in honor of Olga by Prince Vladimir. The prince ordered to cook 300 barrels of honey for the feast. Honey remained the favorite drink of Russians until the end of the 17th century. (In the era of Peter the Great, honey fade into the background, and their place was taken by overseas wines and vodkas.) This is largely due to the fact that the country's harsh climate did not allow the active development of viticulture and, as a result, winemaking. However, of course, the excellent quality of the honeys themselves, their huge variety, played an important role. However, back to the feasts. We learn about many significant dates from the history of our fatherland from the descriptions of one or another feast. For example, the earliest mention of Moscow is also associated with a feast held by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in honor of Prince Svyatoslav Olgovich and his retinue. These feasts were * democratic * in nature: people of all classes came to the feast, and the more honorable the feast, the more heterogeneous the composition of the guests.

The relationship was based on such a concept as * honor and place *, that is, the guest was honored and assigned a place at the table in accordance with the place he occupied in society. The grand dukes themselves treated the guests, ate and drank with them. The well-known Russian historian A. V. Tereshchenko writes in this regard: * Nobles and famous spiritual persons mingled with the crowd of guests of every class: the spirit of brotherhood brought hearts closer. This was before the oppression of Russia by the Tatars. *

Karzin N. Feast at Prince Vladimir

Asian pride and inaccessibility have tainted our ancient and laudable customs. Over time, feasts became less democratic, a strict order of treating guests and parochialism took an increasing place in them. In * Domostroy *, a monument from the middle of the 16th century, which reflects the norms of behavior of that time, advice is given on how to behave at a feast: * When you are invited to a feast, do not sit in a place of honor, suddenly from among the invited someone will be more honorable than you; and the one who invited you will come and say: * Give him a place *, and then you will have to move with shame to the last place; but if you are invited, having entered, sit in the last seat, and when the one who invited you comes and says to you: * Friend, sit higher! * then you will be honored from the rest of the guests, for everyone ascending will humble himself, and the humble will ascend. When they put before you a variety of foods and drinks, and if someone more noble than you is among those invited, do not start eating before him; if you are an honored guest, then start eating the offered food first *.

A. Ryabushkin. The feast of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with the close boyars in the leaving field

Sauerkraut with herrings was usually among the first serving at feasts in Ancient Russia. Caviar in different forms was placed next to them as snacks: white, that is, freshly salted, red slightly salted, black strong salted. The most widespread caviar was sturgeon, beluga, sevruga, sterlet, pike, and ruled caviar. Caviar with pepper and chopped onion was served, spiced with vinegar and oil of Provence to taste. The caviar was supplemented by balyks, which in the old days were called * backs *, and sagging (a kind of dried) fish: salmon, white fish, sturgeon, beluzhina, etc. Botvinya was served with this fish. Then steamed fish followed, followed by fried fish.

From this abundance of snacks passed to the ear. What kinds of fish soup Russian cuisine does not know: pike, sterlet, crucian carp, perch, left-handed, yazevaya, zander, combined ... Along with the fish soup, they served kali: salmon with lemons, white fish with plums, sterlet with cucumbers. Each ear was followed by its own, body, that is, a dough made of fish pulp with seasoning, baked in the form of various figures (circles, crescents, temptations; pig, goose, duck, etc.). An obligatory dish was also pies and pies filled with minced fish, vizigas, herring, whitefish ...

However, this is not all. After the fish soup, they feasted on salted fish - fresh and salted fish in brine (cucumber, plum, lemon, beetroot) and always * under fire * was the name given to truly Russian sauces with horseradish, garlic, and mustard. These dishes also relied on pies, only not hearth (baked), but spun (fried). After eating all these dishes, they indulged in boiled crayfish.

The more the feasts lost their democratic foundations, the more magnificent and luxurious they became. The exact description of the ceremony of serving dishes and meals in the 16th century is given in his novel * Prince Silver * by A. K. Tolstoy. During the feast that Ivan the Terrible arranged for his brethren of 700 oprichniks, there were no dishes on the tables, except salt shakers, pepper shakers and vinegar bowls, and of the dishes, there were only dishes of cold meat in vegetable oil, pickles, plums and sour milk in wooden cups ... A multitude of servants in violet-colored velvet caftans, with gold embroidery, stood before the sovereign, bowed to him at the waist, and went two in a row to get food. They soon returned, carrying two hundred and two roasted swans on golden platters. This started lunch.

Makovsky Kissing ceremony. 1895

When the swans were eaten, the servants left the room in pairs and returned with three hundred fried peacocks, whose tails were swinging over each dish in the form of a fan. The peacocks were followed by kulebyaks, chicken pies, pies with meat and cheese, pancakes of all kinds, crooked pies and pancakes ...

The dinner went on. First they put various jellies on the tables; then cranes with spicy potion, pickled roosters with ginger, boneless chickens and ducks with cucumbers. Then they brought various stews and three kinds of fish soup: white chicken, black chicken and saffron chicken. Behind the fish soup were served hazel grouses with plums, geese with millet and grouse with saffron.

Painting by Vasnetsov TSAREVNA-FROG

The tsar's chefs distinguished themselves on this day. They had never been so successful in lemon kalias, spun kidneys and crucian carps with lamb ... The hares in the noodles were also good and tasty, and the guests, no matter how they loaded up, did not miss either quails with garlic sauce, or larks with onions and saffron. . * A colorful description of the feast at A. N. Tolstoy. Indeed, in the 16th century, grand-ducal and royal feasts began with roast, namely, with fried swans, which were considered a royal dish. If for some reason they were not on the table, then this was considered offensive for the guests and was regarded as insufficient respect for them. However, the strictest ban was imposed on the consumption of many types of meat - especially on hare and veal. It remains a historical fact that in 1606 the boyars managed to set a crowd against False Dmitry I, prompting it to break into the Kremlin, only with the message that the king was not real, for he was eating veal.

Boyar feast

Since the 17th century, the cuisine of the nobility has become more and more sophisticated and sophisticated. She not only collects, combines and generalizes the experience of previous centuries, but also creates new, more complex versions of old dishes on its basis. For the boyar cuisine of that time, an extraordinary abundance of dishes up to 50 in one lunch became remarkable, and at the tsar's table their number grew to 150-200. The desire to give the table a pompous look is manifested in a sharp increase in the size of the dishes themselves. The largest swans, geese, turkeys, the largest sturgeons or belugas are selected. Sometimes they are so large that three or four people can barely lift them. The artificial decoration of dishes knows no bounds: palaces are built from food products, fantastic animals of gigantic proportions. The craving for deliberate splendor affected the duration of the court dinners: 6-8 hours in a row - from 2 pm to 10 pm. They included almost a dozen changes, each of which consisted of one and a half to two dozen of the same type of dishes, for example, a dozen varieties of fried game or salted fish, from two dozen types of pancakes or pies.

Makovsky Boyarin with a cup

In the 18th century, feasts began to begin with jelly, caviar and other cold snacks, then liquid hot meals were served, and only then boiled and roasted ones. A century later, in the homes of nobles, a dinner party was opened with hams, sausages, cold meat and fish dishes, pickles, followed by stew, roast, and the dinner ended with sweets. Various dishes from fish, which were even more expensive than game, were always highly valued. Our ancestors believed that the more fish on the table and the larger it is, the higher the honor for guests. Russian chefs achieved such perfection in their art that they could * transform * fish into roosters, chickens, geese, ducks, not only giving the dishes the shape of these birds, but even imitating their taste. In Russian culinary literature, such dishes were called fake: fake hare, fake goose, etc.

Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky

Pavel Alepsky reports that the Muscovites prepared various fish dishes as follows: * they choose all the bones from the fish, beat it in mortars until it becomes like dough, then stuff it with onions and saffron in abundance, put it in wooden forms in the form of lambs and geese, and they are fried in vegetable oil on very deep baking trays, like wells, so that it is fried through and through, served and cut like pieces of fat tail. Her taste is excellent

And later the fish did not leave the table of the Russian people. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the fact that it was allowed to eat during the period of fasting. They ate herring especially during Lent. Herring milk and caviar with potatoes were considered a delicacy. The milk was washed, the film was removed from them, and ground with boiled egg yolks and mustard. Barrel pike was also widely used - salted pike. It was boiled in water, skinned and served with horseradish and vinegar.

Makovsky Portrait of Prince P.P. Vyazemsky. Early 1880

Smoked fish - whitefish, smelt, vimba, was eaten as an independent dish or mixed with other products: pickled beets, pickled cucumbers, raw apples, boiled eggs, greens ...

Ladle of the Grand Duke John Vasilyevich IV

The bucket is white, with a gilded crown and slopes. In the middle there is a seal, with an image, on a green enamel field, of a two-headed eagle (in the original form of the seal of the Russian State, with two crowns, without a rider striking a hydra on the chest). Around the eagle, the signature is drawn along a blue enamel: * By God's grace, Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, Sovereign of All Russia. * Along the crown, inside ... outside, also along the ribbon, the royal title is minted: * By God's mercy, Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilievich , Sovereign of All Russia, Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorotsk, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Tver, Yugorsk, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgarian, and others, Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod, Nizov lands, Chernigov, Ryazov Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersky, Udora, Obdorsky, Kondisky and all Siberian lands and northern countries, the sovereign and sovereign and many others *.

Silver gilded goblet

In the inventory of the Armory Chamber * A gilded spoon, decorated with eight protuberances with yachons and emeralds (five of which are missing). Large yachts are surrounded by small ones, as well as 12 emeralds in a nest around an emerald. One-headed eagles on both sides under the bulges of the goblet; beneath them are silver herbs. There is a two-headed eagle between the goblet and the pallet. On the roof of the cup there are bulges of apples and also on a pallet.

Silver gilded goblet

This goblet belonged to the treasury of Tsarevich Prince Alexei Mikhailovich, together with another representing a windmill, about which the inventory of the treasury of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich noted: * The goblet is silver, gilded, on three wheels. In the cup in the middle is a swan; a jolob is removed from the cup; and in a trough there is an anbar melishnoy, in an anbar a peasant sits on two dogs. From the goblet upwards there are three silver springs, and on those springs the goblet is gilded in silver; there is a crane on a post, on one leg, and in the other holding an apple. The pallet is gilded on three gilded bent feet; the whale fish is gilded on the pallet; according to the signature, the weight is two pounds forty spools, and the weight is 2 lbs. 44 gold *.

Cup sent to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from the Swedish Queen Christina in 1648

Horn case cup; under him is a man of silver, white2, female half3, in his right hand a sickle, with his left hand holding a horn; herbs are minted on the pallet; on the top of an apple in seven places, in the middle, smooth, gilded; a branch in the middle apple; below the apples are silvery white leaves and colored burrows; between apples grapes and colored herbs; one apple is gone. According to the signature at the bottom of thirteen pounds seventy spools. The Queen of Sweden sent her to the Great Sovereign Christina in (1648), September on the 2nd day. And by weight thirteen pounds, twenty-four spools *.

A goblet sent as a gift from King Christian IV of Denmark in 1644

When the son of Danish King Christian IV, Prince Voldemar, who was wooing Princess Irina Mikhailovna, arrived in Moscow, the goblet was also among the gifts. * The goblet was silver, gilded, with a glossy, smooth roof, long horses. There is a shingle roof on it, grass on the roof. Around the goblet on a platter are vegetables - apples, cherries, all around their herbs; between the saucer and the tray 1; she has a vessel in her right hand, a sickle in her left hand. At the signature on the bottom five pounds, forty-five spools. The Great Sovereign was sent to the gift of Datskoy by Christianus King in the year (1644), general. And by weight 5 lb. 42 gold *

Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Cup

In the inventories from the past (XVIII) century under the name of the feet: * The foot of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, gold, immigrated on a pallet, decorated with enamel and precious stones. Along the edge of the signature, on black enamel in gold: * Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich, Autocrat of All Russia *. On four arches, decorated with carvings and enamel patterns, there are two large azure yahonts, a lal and an emerald. On the pallet there are 4 azure yachts, 7 red yachts, 5 emeralds, and two empty places. In the apple there are small red yagons and emeralds, four on each side of the eight sides. Under the apple there are 2 small yahonts and 2 emeralds. Its weight is 2 lb. 15 gold *

Cup of Grand Duke John Vasilievich III

* The rooster is silver, white, the head and craw and the wing and tail and legs are gilded; no nail on the right foot. It weighs three pounds seventy-eight zolotniks. * Under the removable head that makes up the roof of this cup, the signature on the green enamel is stamped: * Prince the Great Ivan Vasilyevich. * From the spiritual charter of Prince Dmitry Ioannovich it is clear that this vessel was one of the gifts given to him by his father goblets and chased beasts: * ... yes 18 goblets of gilded and non-gilded pink with pouppos and herbs and dostokanovy business, INTO me our father Prince Veliki Ivan gave me, and which Prince Velika Vasily gave me; yes an ox, yes a boat, yes chickens (rooster) *.

Bowl, 1630

According to the inventory of 1663, this cup was brought by the Danish prince Voldemar when he was in Moscow in 1644: * The cup is valuable, the roof and the pallet are silver-plated; on the roof is a peasant with a wing, in his left hand he holds a ring over his head; wing and ring are painted with paints red and green. Between the goblet and the pallet, there is a bead of red native, knotty; a bird on a bitch; at the root a man with an ax; on the pallet are people and animals and birds and frogs; there is a man on horseback on the pallet by the grate. The pallet, people and animals are painted with paints. The King Voldemar presented the Great Sovereign in the dareh of Datskoy with the ambassador in the year (1644), General (28) Price thirty rubles *.

Jasper bowl, decorated with precious stones and gold. Silver gilded cup

The depicted goblet of coconut, framed with gilded silver, entered the treasury of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, among other vessels and things after the repose of his father, the blessed memory of Patriarch Filaret Nikitich.

Shell cup and brother of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

This goblet, kept in the Armory, is made of mother-of-pearl shell with a gilded silver setting; cast Neptune on the curl of the shell, on a sea horse, with a trident in his hand. On both sides are images of Triton blowing a horn. The cast frame with figures and cuffs is decorated with emeralds, yachons and pearl grains. *

Of the shell goblets, three, without adornments with precious stones, were presented to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich by the Danish prince Voldemar on January 23, 1644, but the described one is unknown when and from whom it came. Most of the goblets made of mother-of-pearl shells, ostrich eggs and coconuts with mythological images according to the stamps on them are from Nuremberg.

Brothers of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

Silver gilded, on the sides there are four hallmarks, decorated with enamel green leaves, in the outlines of white enamel beads. On the crown, the signature is in black: * By the order of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, All Great, Little and White Russia Autocrat. The Holy Patriarch's cup is poured into this brother *.

Golden brother, presented to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by Patriarch Nikon

This golden brother, or health cup, made in Moscow, spoon-shaped, decorated with enamel rims and flowers. Outside, along the rim, between the sections of the enamel inscription, there are two large emeralds and two blue yachons, or sapphires, one of which is faceted in bulk, the other is flat. Between the spoons, under the rim, there are five diamonds of the Greek facet and six yachons. On the crown is the following, drawn with black enamel, the signature: * 161 (1653), of the most pious Tsar and
The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia blessed the Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of all Russia with this bowl and Nikon struck with his forehead. * At the bottom of the bowl, another signature is cut: * 194 (1686), the Great Sovereigns in this bowl bestowed Boyarin Prince Vasily Vasilyevich with a bowl for Evo Golitsyn , for the eternal peace that was perpetrated with the King of Poland *.

Oh you, Russian winter, trees and trees ...
And on the highlands - commotion, and at weddings - bitter!
Troikas are racing, bells are singing a song ...
Weddings in the middle of winter in Russia happen ...
The horses shake their manes, beat their hoof ringingly ...
Bitterly! The guests drink vodka and shout after ...
Roamed winter soul sometimes ...
Our wedding is good - three, ate, a field ...
Bells ring loudly, the music is good ...
We went to walk in great Russia ...
But, dear ones! Drive! Free expanse!
There is no sweet and free native land!

5. The decoration of the royal table. The royal feasts most often took place in the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin - the largest hall of the palace. For the sake of decoration, around the tetrahedral pillar, they set up shelves with gold and silver crockery.
Long tables were set up along the walls in front of the benches. Tablecloths were laid on them, vessels with salt, vinegar, pepper were laid out - our ancestors loved spicy food. Although there were a lot of dishes, there was often not enough of the most necessary things - knives, forks, plates.
Bread and salt were a must on the table. The dinner began with the tsar sending out pieces of bread to the guests. It was considered an even greater honor to receive salt from the king.
The king feasted at a separate table, which stood on a dais in the corner of the banquet hall. Sometimes the prince, the heir to the throne, or the head of the church, the patriarch, dined with the tsar.
How did the feasts go? The royal feasts were very long. Under Ivan the Terrible, feasts lasted six or more hours and ended well after midnight. The number of invited guests was estimated at hundreds and even thousands. Everyone sat down at the table, observing the old law of parochialism.
The butler was in charge of the royal meal. Under his command there were 200-300 stewards, chasniks who served at the table. Dressed in brocade caftans, black fox hats, with gold chains on the chest, they changed their outfits several times during dinner.
Each dish was thoroughly tested before it got to the sovereign's table. The cook was the first to taste the prepared food, then the servants who brought the food from the kitchen and, finally, the kravchia, who served the food to the king, took the sample. The same was true for drinks.
The order of serving dishes at feasts was as follows. At first, cold snacks were put on the table, as well as fried meat and fish. Then hot stews. Lunch ended with dessert - cookies, fruits, sugar and sweets.
The first dish was traditionally roasted swan. The fully cooked bird was brought into the hall on a gold tray and shown to the guests. Then the swan was carried away, cut into pieces, laid out in dishes and served to guests.

What did they eat at royal feasts? The royal guests could taste 150-200 dishes in one evening. In short days, meat dishes occupied the main place on the royal table. Common among them were fried finches with salted lemons, black grouse with plums, turkey with saffron sauce, as well as “navels, necks and liver of young chickens”.
On a fast day, the fish menu prevailed. A huge fish, cooked whole, was considered a table decoration. But the most favorite fish dish was fish soup. Foreigners, who did not really like Russian cuisine, unanimously recognized the excellent taste of fish soup.
Among the snacks, red (salmon) and black (sturgeon, beluga, sevruga) caviar were very popular. They ate it not only raw and salted, but also boiled in poppy milk. No royal feast was complete without traditional pies. On the Tsar's name day, special birthday pies were baked.
During the feast, the king paid attention to someone present by sending food and drink from his own table. It was considered the greatest honor to receive the tsar's "leftovers" - dishes already tasted by the sovereign.
Many customs of the tsarist feast unpleasantly struck foreigners. Boyars mostly ate with their hands, often two or three people from one dish. They did not use napkins; they wiped their hands on the edge of the tablecloth. Burp at the table was common.
What did they drink at the royal feasts? The royal feasts were accompanied by many toasts. The first was proclaimed in honor of the sovereign, then they drank to the members of the royal family, the patriarch, etc. And each time it was necessary to drink to the bottom, so as not to offend the person being honored.
From time to time the tsar raised the goblet for the health of someone present. Those who were so honored would get up and bow in gratitude. All the guests got up with him. Sometimes the toasts alternated so often that there was no time to eat. Not surprisingly, some of the guests, in the midst of the fun, got drunk and fell under the table.
The variety of drinks at royal feasts amazed no less than the food. In Russia, since ancient times, they drank beer, honey, kvass. Especially tasty were honeys: white and red (the first were served in silver vessels, the second - in gold ones), cherry, currant, raspberry, apple and many others. Some of them were quite drunk.
Grape wines were brought from abroad: Spanish, French, German and Greek. But the strongest of all drinks was considered vodka, which appeared in Russia in the XIV century. Vodka was infused with cinnamon, mint, St. John's wort, lemon and orange peels. Often, the feast began with vodka, which was believed to increase the appetite.
Not a single court holiday was complete without a feast. At the table, the boyars did not know the measure either in food or drink. However, the Russian custom of hospitality welcomed gluttony and drunkenness, which means that the guests enjoyed the treat.

6. In ancient times, a feast in Russia was considered an important phenomenon in public life. Here the latest news was discussed, deals were made, joint affairs were thought of, quarreled and reconciled here.

In the 9th century, feasts were general. Princes, governors, wealthy people, commoners sat down together. However, society gradually stratified, and the feasts of wealthy people became more magnificent and luxurious. Not like feasts, but boyars' dinner could last from 6 to 8 hours with a dozen changes of numerous dishes. Pancakes with caviar and pies with different fillings, fried game, salted and boiled fish, poultry stuffed with cereals, hares stuffed with noodles, various sauces or, as they were then called, "boiled", fresh or pickled vegetables, mushrooms, berries, and sweets.

In ancient times, until about the XIV century, feasts were of three types: private (they were collected by one boyar or a merchant), feasts-councils (organized by communities) and, finally, princely feasts.

The boyar cuisine of that time was characterized by more than 50 dishes in one lunch, and at the prince's table their number reached 200. The largest swans, peacocks, geese, ducks were chosen, sometimes the dishes were so large and heavy that four people could lift them and bring them ...

After the distribution of bread, kvass or honey was served, then sour cabbage was often followed, an appetizer was placed next to it - white caviar (freshly salted), red (slightly salted) and black (strong salted). The most widespread caviar was sturgeon, beluga, sevruga, sterlet and pike. Caviar was served with chopped onions, and the food was seasoned with vinegar.

Kissels were popular as a side dish. It turns out that the word "jelly" in Old Russian cuisine has two meanings. The first is a sweet sticky drink, the second is a cold snack dish. For the preparation of pea jelly in Russia, only water and peas were used. Salt was usually added with meals. Pea flour was poured into boiling water and brewed to the required consistency. Then the liquid was poured into any mold and cooled for 10 hours until it turns into an edible jelly-like mass. As a rule, pea jelly in Russia was served either with caviar or with game. Times have changed, today many people prefer vegetarian cuisine, but it turned out that pea jelly goes well with fried vegetables (squash, zucchini, carrots).

In ancient Russia, special attention was paid to cold and hot snacks, including fish. Especially under Ivan the Terrible, who forbade the use of veal for food, and for disobedience he mercilessly chopped off sinners' heads.

The abundance of fish dishes is due to natural conditions, the richness of reservoirs. Russian settlements, as a rule, arose on the banks of the Volga, Oka, Yenisei, Amur and other numerous rivers. In addition, in the old days it was allowed to eat fish during fasting. The monasteries of different principalities had their own secrets of cooking pike, pike perch, stellate sturgeon and eel.

Sterlet royally Sturgeon stuffed with mushrooms royally is a tasty, nutritious dish and cooks relatively quickly. In ancient times, the sterlet was pre-scalded, the entrails and the ridge were removed, smeared with berries, lemon and pepper. And then stuffed with porcini mushrooms, fried with onions. The belly of the fish was covered with clay or pulled together with the veins of animals, put into a specially prepared white sauce made from fish broth, cream, sour cream, brine, fresh herbs and allowed to cook. It was the favorite fish dish of the Russian princes Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh.

In addition to fish, mushroom dishes have always been appreciated in Russia; meat-eaters and vegetarians love them. When mushrooms were deified, they were worshiped during sacred rites. Every nation in ancient times had its own mushroom, with which a special relationship was established. Among the Russian people, boletus was considered the king of mushrooms, it inspired respect for its size, it was used in snacks, soups, hot dishes. Boletus never turned black, like other mushrooms, when cutting, cooking and drying, hence the second name - white. The Rusichi called the mushrooms used for food "lips". Apparently because the bottom of their hat looked like a sponge. These include both white and boletus, aspen, oak, boletus, moss.

About 50 mushroom dishes are mentioned in the "Expenditure Book" of the 12th century Patriarch of All Russia Adrian. For example, various pates were made from tinder fungi, and even pancakes, after dipping them in an egg. Original mushroom stews were prepared from salted chanterelles and plucked russula, which amazed the imagination of visiting foreign gourmets.

In the 15th century, when Moscow became the capital of a centralized state, the tsarist feasts acquired the status of official diplomatic receptions. Their splendor was supposed to emphasize the power and greatness of the Russian state. This is the outer, front side, related to the tsarist life, but what is known about the everyday old Russian cuisine of ordinary people in Russia, not only in the Middle Ages, but also in more ancient times.

Page - Feast in Russia - Recipes of Russian cuisine from the site http://rus-eda.ru

7. One of the main components of wedding celebrations

In Russia, a wedding feast is always considered. Everyone who could take part in the preparation of the festive table - relatives, neighbors and other residents of the village or city in which the wedding took place. The conclusion of marriage has always become a significant event in the life of not only the birth of the bride and groom, but also the community in which they lived. If, for any reason, the wedding took place without a feast, the young and their families were condemned and obstructed. Therefore, all families, even the poorest, tried to arrange a wedding feast.

At a Russian wedding, two tables were usually set, one of which was called the wedding. Behind him sat the newlyweds, who were forbidden to eat food from the table, which the guests and relatives specially offered them. During the feast, the young could only receive congratulations from the guests.

A particularly important moment in a Russian wedding feast is the second course. In boyar families, a fried swan was served for the second, and in less wealthy families - a goose or turkey. At the same time, a small dish with fried chicken was placed in front of the young people. This dish was wrapped in a specially prepared tablecloth, and then the guests asked the parents of the spouses to bless them before the first wedding night. After that, the chicken was carried into the sennik, where the marriage bed had already been made.

The ritual was supervised by a specially appointed person, who was called a thousand. He was helped by candlesticks who put candles in a special tub filled with wheat grains and installed at the head of the marriage bed. When the sennik was prepared, the newlyweds were invited there. At the same time, the groom's father accompanied them from the door of the house in which the feast was taking place to the door of the sennik, where they were met by the groom's mother, wearing a fur coat turned inside out.

In some regions, additions were made to the ceremony. So, in the southern regions of Russia, while the groom's parents were invited to bless the newlyweds, one of the guests lay down on a bench, depicting the deceased. The girls invited to the wedding began to shout over him, portraying mourners. It was believed that this ritual "binds" the young to each other to the grave.

After the bride and groom went to the sennik, the feast was resumed. The second table was laid, which was called the mountain. Relatives and guests from the side of the bride were not supposed to appear at the wedding before setting and laying the upper table. New guests were greeted at the very porch with song and vodka. The first to enter the house were matchmakers who were supposed to accuse the groom's parents of kidnapping the bride. According to the ritual, in response they had to admit that they had kidnapped the bride, and the young people were taken out of the bedchamber and shown to the bride's relatives. She had to give gifts to the groom's parents and kiss them. After that, the young people joined the feast. Two bottles of wine were placed in front of them, tied with a red or pink ribbon (when the newlyweds went to the sennik again, they had to take the wine with them).

The part of the celebration that took place at the high table was usually accompanied by joyful congratulations and loud wedding songs. Wealthy families even invited special people for this, who were called grandees or dignitaries. It was important that each of the guests received their share of honor and ornate congratulations.

The first table toast was made by the matchmaker. After that, the tysyatsky, who was seated at the alpine table, cut a special wedding cake. After it was eaten, the young had to bow at the feet of their parents and ask them to bless their marriage bed. Then the young went to the sennik and no one bothered them until morning.

***
Soon the Wedding Fair will take place in Diveevskaya Sloboda. At the fair, the possibilities of the hotel complex will be demonstrated, the companies providing wedding services will be presented, as well as a video tour of the best wedding venues in the region will be held.

The New Year holidays died down, everyone celebrated the New Year, celebrated Christmas and the old New Year. All this was accompanied by feasts, gatherings with family and friends, and festivities. It's time to talk about where the tradition of feasts and feasts, receiving guests and going to them came from.

What is a feast?

In archaic, traditional, and even modern cultures, there is a common archetypal meaning of the feast. For example, the ancient Greek poet Homer (c. IX-VIII centuries BC) in the poem "Odyssey", describing the feast, shows the rite of passage. Namely: for the wanderer (Odysseus), the swineherd Evmeus arranges a feast so that he is accepted into society. Since Odysseus is a stranger, he is outside the legal field and social connections of this society, in a state of uncertainty. In this particular case, this is not just a feast, it is accompanied by a sacrifice. The fact that Eumeus organizes the meal shows that the stranger is trusted and accepted for his own; this removes fear, excludes possible unforeseen and unwanted incidents.

This is the similarity of Slavic and, in particular, Greek hospitality, which was noted by the historian, collector of Russian folklore Alexander Afanasyev. In the Slavic tradition, a stranger or just a guest who entered the house and sat down near the hearth found himself under the protection of its owner. To offend a guest meant a manifestation of disrespect for the hearth, which in the eyes of the Slavs was a shrine. For the insult inflicted on the guest, one could pay with public revenge: the house of the offender was burned. Among the Greeks, such inappropriate behavior of the owner of the house was also regarded as an insult to the gods.

Even Sigmund Freud drew attention to this side of the meal, describing prehistoric archetypes. For example, the Bedouins have a custom according to which a person who has shared food with them in the desert should not fear them as an enemy and may even count on their protection and help as long as the food remains in the body. In this way, the connection of companions is understood.

In general, similar traditions of hospitality were noted among the North American Indians, the peoples of the Caucasus and others.

By the way, the Slavic word “to eat” is connected by the root with the words “sacrifice”, “devour” and “priest”, the process of offering sacrificial food to the gods and eating part of it at a common meal.

Why are feasts necessary?

Let's turn to the most banal practice still existing in most modern families - a family feast. It serves to consolidate, through regular repetition it creates the impression that it is in the process of family feast that the family's life reaches its climax.

The dinner party serves to strengthen friendship, crystallize simple emotional bonds between the host of the table and the guests. At a common table, a person is able to experience the charm of all his companions, or feel that some of them are not as bad people as they seemed before. They gather at the table on the occasion of holidays or sorrowful events (in our time - a commemoration), as well as for the simple maintenance of social ties or the restoration of those with an old friend who has not been seen for a long time.

An example of the fact that a joint meal in ancient times served to maintain the unity of the human collective can be Ancient Rome and Ancient Russia. In Rome, there was a custom according to which a local rich man could donate a large sum to organize folk festivals with sacrifices, where the poor could eat for free. This emphasized the unity of various strata of the population within the framework of the Roman community. In Russia, before and after Prince Vladimir, the feasts sung in the epics were a form of communication between the princely power and the people and strengthening its prestige.

Of course, at the common table, disputes, quarrels, fights and murders often arose and still arise. And in the old days, a common feast served as a temptation to poison the enemy or enemy. However, this was not the rule and they treated such excesses in a special way. Poisoning a guest at a feast or just a person who has shared food with you in the desert is dishonorable. But a quarrel or even a fight "for a beer" in Russia was not punishable, provided that its participants reconcile before leaving the feast, or after sobering up.

So, researchers believe that the history of the formation of a community of human collectives unfolds parallel to the history of the feast and in its forms. The traditions of the feast are developing, preserving the traces of human change from an animal to a cultural state.

(From the history of the traditions of the Russian table)

Each nation has its own way of life, customs, its own unique songs, dances, fairy tales. Each country has its favorite dishes, special traditions in table decoration and food preparation. There is a lot in them that is expedient, historically conditioned, corresponding to national tastes, lifestyle, climatic conditions. For thousands of years, this way of life and these habits have been taking shape, they collect the collective experience of our ancestors.
Culinary recipes, formed over the years as a result of centuries of evolution, many of them are excellent examples of the correct combination of products in terms of taste, and from a physiological point of view, in terms of nutrient content.
The life of a people is shaped under the influence of many factors - natural, historical, social, etc. Cultural exchange with other peoples also affects it to a certain extent, but foreign traditions are never mechanically borrowed, but acquire a local national flavor on new soil.
Ever since medieval antiquity, rye, oats, wheat, barley, millet have been cultivated in our country, long ago our ancestors borrowed the skills of making flour, mastered the "secrets" of baking various products from fermented dough. That is why pies, pies, pancakes, pies, pies, pancakes, pancakes, etc. are essential in the food of our ancestors. Many of these products have long become traditional for festive tables: kurniks - at weddings, pies, pancakes - at Shrovetide, "larks "from the dough - on spring holidays, etc.
Dishes from all kinds of cereals are no less typical for Russian traditional cuisine: various cereals, cereals, pancakes, oatmeal jelly, casseroles, dishes based on peas, as well as lentils.

Porridge is undoubtedly an original Russian dish. Moreover, porridge is a cult dish. According to old Russian traditions, during the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom must cook porridge. Obviously, this tradition gave rise to the saying: "You cannot cook porridge with him (with her)." The whole history of the Russian state is inextricably linked with porridge. Russian porridge is the most important dish of the national Russian cuisine.
The main product of Russian agriculture has always been cereal (and, to a lesser extent, legumes) crops. The organism of the Russian man, over many centuries (and even millennia), was formed and evolved on the basis of the structural composition of cereals.
Porridge is a very healthy, nutritious, tasty and, importantly, inexpensive product. Porridges in Russia have always been treated with trepidation. Porridge for a Russian person has always been not just food, but a ritual dish. Without traditional Russian porridge on the table, it was impossible to imagine any celebration or holiday. Moreover, a certain ceremonial porridge was necessarily prepared for various significant events.
In the more northern regions of our country, dishes made from millet are of particular importance. This tradition has deep historical roots. Once upon a time among the Eastern Slavs who came to these lands in the VI century A.D. and lived mainly in forest areas, millet was cultivated as the main crop.
Millet served as raw material for flour, cereals, brewing beer, kvass, making soups and sweet dishes. This folk tradition continues to this day. However, it should be borne in mind that millet is inferior in its nutritional value to other cereals. Therefore, it should be prepared with milk, cottage cheese, liver, pumpkin and other foods.
Grain crops were not the only cultivated by our ancestors. From antiquity, through the centuries, such cultures of Ancient Rome, like a cappus, beets and turnips, have come down to our days and became the main ones in our garden. The most widely used in Russia was sauerkraut, which could be preserved until the next harvest. Cabbage serves as an irreplaceable snack, seasoning for boiled potatoes and other dishes.
Cabbage soup from various types of cabbage is a deserved pride of our national cuisine, although they were prepared in ancient Rome, where a lot of cabbage was specially grown. It's just that many vegetable plants and recipes for dishes "migrated" from Ancient Rome through Byzantium to Russia after the adoption of Christianity in Russia. The Greeks created Russia not only writing, but also transmitted much of their culture.
Nowadays, cabbage is especially widely used in the culinary arts of the northern and central regions of Russia, in the Urals and Siberia.
Turnip in Russia until the end of the 18th - early 19th centuries. was as important as potatoes are today. Turnip was used everywhere and many dishes were prepared from turnip, stuffed, boiled, steamed. The turnip was used as a filling for pies, and kvass was made from it. Gradually, from the beginning to the middle of the 19th century, it was replaced by a much more productive, but much less useful potato (practically, it is empty starch). But the turnip also contains very valuable biochemical sulfur compounds, which are excellent immunostimulants when eaten regularly. Now the turnip has become a rare and piecemeal product on the Russian table - on sale for it, and the price is determined not by kilograms, but by the piece.
After the switch to potatoes, Russian cuisine has significantly lost its high quality. As well as after the practical abandonment of Russian table horseradish, which is also an indispensable aid to health, but retains its beneficial properties no more than 12-18 hours after cooking, i.e. requiring preparation shortly before serving. Therefore, the modern store "horseradish in jars" neither has such properties, nor the proper taste at all. So if now in Russia Russian table horseradish is served to the family table, then only on great holidays.
For some reason, rutabaga is not mentioned in ancient sources, probably because earlier rutabaga was not distinguished from turnip. These roots, once widespread in Russia, now occupy a relatively small share in vegetable growing. They could not stand the competition with potatoes and other crops. However, the peculiar taste and smell, the possibility of various culinary uses, transportability, storage stability make it possible to think that at present one should not abandon turnips and rutabagas, since they give a very special taste to many dishes of Russian folk cuisine.
Of the vegetable crops that appeared in Russia later, one cannot but name potatoes. At the very beginning of the 19th century. potatoes made a real revolution in the traditions of the Russian table, potato dishes gained wide popularity. Much credit for the distribution of the potato and its popularization belongs to the famous cultural figure of the 18th century. A.T. Bolotov, who not only developed agricultural techniques for growing potatoes, but also proposed a technology for preparing a number of dishes.
Animal products remained virtually unchanged. From time immemorial, our ancestors consumed meat from cattle ("beef"), pigs, goats and sheep, as well as poultry - chickens, geese, ducks.
Until the XII century. horse meat was also used, but already in the XIII century. it almost fell out of use, because Mongol-Tatars, who needed horses more, began to take away "extra" horses from the population. In the manuscripts of the XVI-XVII centuries. ("Domostroy", "List of Tsarist Foods") mentions only individual delicious horse meat dishes (aspic from horse lips, boiled horse heads). In the future, with the development of dairy cattle breeding, milk and products derived from it were increasingly used.
Forestry was a large and significant addition to the economy of our ancestors. In the annals of the XI-XII centuries. it speaks about hunting grounds - "goshawks"; later manuscripts mention hazel grouses, wild ducks, hares, geese and other game. Although there is no reason to believe that they have not been eaten before since ancient times.
Forests occupy vast areas in our country, especially in the northern Urals and Siberia. The use of the gifts of the forest is one of the characteristic features of Russian cuisine. In the old days, hazelnuts played an important role in nutrition. Nut butter was one of the most common fats. The kernels were pounded, a little boiling water was added, wrapped in a cloth and put under pressure. The oil gradually dripped into the bowl. Nut cake was also used as food - added to cereals, eaten with milk, with cottage cheese. Crushed nuts were also used for the preparation of various dishes and fillings.
The forest was also a source of honey (bee-keeping). Various sweet dishes and drinks - honey were prepared from honey. Currently, only in some places of Siberia (especially in Altai among the local peoples) methods of preparing these delicious drinks have been preserved.
However, from the most ancient times until the mass production of sugar, honey was the main sweetness of all peoples, and on its basis, even in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, a wide variety of sweet drinks, dishes and desserts were prepared. Also, not only Russians, but all peoples who had fish at their disposal, from time immemorial ate caviar.
The very first artificially cultivated fruit tree in Russia was cherry. Under Yuri Dolgorukov, only cherries grew in Moscow.
The nature of Russian folk cuisine was largely influenced by the geographical features of our country - the abundance of rivers, lakes, seas. It is the geographical location that explains the number of all kinds of fish dishes. Many river fish species, as well as lake fish, were quite widespread in the diet. Although much more various fish dishes were still in Ancient Greece and, especially, in Ancient Rome - the creator of the foundations of the modern wealth of European cuisine. What were Lucullus' culinary fantasies worth? (Unfortunately, his many recipes have been lost.)
In Russian cuisine, a wide range of products was also used for cooking. However, it is not so much the variety of products that determines the specificity of the national Russian cuisine (the same products were available to Europeans), as the methods of their processing and cooking technologies themselves. In many ways, the originality of folk dishes was determined precisely by the peculiarities of the Russian oven.

Slavic Meal Customs.
Such an integral part of the meal as the TABLE occupies a very prominent place in the traditional picture of the world. In a peasant hut, the table is just as important as the stove and the Red Corner, it is widely used in rituals and many popular beliefs are associated with it. During a housewarming, a table was brought into the empty hut first of the furniture, after which they prayed on four sides and continued moving. The red corner (a shelf with icons and family relics, later with photographs of ancestors) is mentioned for a reason: the table in the hut has been placed under it since ancient times and is a continuation of the Divine world in the human world. “The table is the throne of God in the house”, “The table is the palm of God” - say Russian proverbs. Thus, everything that appears on the table is offered to God, sanctified by Him, and only then is shared at the meal by all family members. This view explains the many old prohibitions in behavior at the table: you cannot behave disrespectfully and noisily, sit down to dinner dirty, wearing a hat, laugh, cross your legs, indiscriminately handle food, it is a great sin to sit down or put your feet on the table.

A daily meal is no less a powerful means of magical family unity than a ritual meal. After all, this is our daily ritual, and every day we can add a penny to the piggy bank of the family harmony, or we can wave it off wearily and indifferently. Take note of how your family's breakfast or dinner is going: is everyone waiting to start eating? Who is in charge of the table? How do household members sit and why? Are signs of respect given to elders? What tone prevails in conversations? Is there an obsessive craving to turn on the TV? Do they thank the hostess for her hard work? How does the meal end?
If the answers to these questions please you, then everything is fine. This means that you have inherited the customs of home meals, which in the modern world few people own. Unfortunately, more often drinking habits develop spontaneously and do not always contribute to strengthening family relationships. In this case, it is worth correcting them. Here are some tips based on traditional table manners:
The father of the family sits at the head (end) of the table. It is a place of control and influence. You will be surprised how archetypally deep and soothing such a sight is. This landing will help the man himself, if he is not ready to accept the role of the head of the family in everything.
... While the family is getting together, no one starts to eat, even if the plates are already full. The elder raises the first spoon, and this serves as a sign for the beginning of lunch.
... In the traditional way, food is unthinkable without prayer.
You can say the prayer to yourself if you are not at home. At a family dinner, one of the spouses, who is more inclined to this, sanctifies the entire table, saying words aloud. Previously, it was the business of an older man as the spiritual leader of the family, but in our conditions it also happens to a woman - in general, our sex is more likely to maintain a cyclical life, preserve customs, etc.
Eat at least one meal with the whole family. This is especially doable on weekends.
Try to stay away from TV! A circle of family members forms at the table, this is that rare time when we are in the same room and at one lesson. What kind of transmission can be more important than unity with loved ones?
Teach your child at the table, as in other areas of life, to respect elders, give in and share, instead of considering himself the center of the universe. You will reap the benefits of this approach in the future.
Previously, the meal ended the same way as it began - all together and with a kind word of gratitude. "Breaking the table" - getting up out of order - was considered extremely impolite, the one who had eaten remained at the table until the elders had a meal. With the modern pace of life, this is hardly feasible. However, such a final gesture as thanks to the hostess and a slight bow to all participants will give the meal integrity and emotional completeness.
Food waste, especially bread, flour and seeds, should preferably be returned to the natural cycle. This is a symbolic guarantee of the renewal of prosperity and fertility in our home and on our Native land.