Cover photo: local agricultural products on village tables
Русский ItalianoPerhaps not everyone knows that fast food is prohibited for Orthodox Christians during Lent. However, this fact does not bother connoisseurs of traditional Russian cuisine at all: the Lenten menu can be quite rich and varied.
by Tamara Skok
WHISPERED (Шептала, pronunciation: Sheptalà). It is not a verb in the past tense (She whispered, as it would be translated literally), but a noun with the final vowel stressed. This word was used to describe fruits such as peaches, apricots and nectarines. We find an example by Lev Tolstoy in “Prisoner of the Caucasus”: “He walked along the path and saw a garden, a stone fence, from behind the fence – a cherry tree, whispered and a hut with a flat roof.” The word sheptala (sheptalà), which entered the Russian language through Turkish from Persian, is also called dried or sun-dried fruit with seeds. During Lent they were added to various dishes or consumed as a delicacy.
KALYA (Калья, pronunciation: Kalìa). This name of the stew also comes from the Turkish language. The Lenten version of kalia, according to V. Dahl’s dictionary, was prepared “in cucumber brine, with cucumbers, beets, fish and caviar”. This “fish borscht” was hearty and tasty, it is not for nothing that it became part of the saying: “Where there is Kalia, here I am.”
BEET (Бурак, pronunciation: Burák). One of the ingredients of kalia and other Lenten dishes is the famous brown beetroot. The word is common to Slavic languages: Ukrainian. Burak, Czech. borák, Polish burаk dates back to Middle Latin Borago or etc. borage. During Lent, beetroot was prepared by grinding boiled beets with horseradish and seasoning them with salt.
This word has homonyms in Russian: beetroot is both beehive and birch bark. “Beetroot was put for wild bees and forgotten” (M. M. Prishvin). “Everyone had their own dishes: some had a bucket, some had a basket, some had red beets, some had a body” (S. T. Aksakov). Indoor cylindrical stoves were also called beets for their resemblance to a birch bark vessel: “He drank three glasses, blushed, boasted that he had put in and managed to build not only a simple Russian or Dutch stove, but also a Swedish, and a round one – “burak”, “and a fireplace and a stove with steam heating, and that no one else will do it like him, because he is talented, and talent is not a common thing” (A. T. Tvardovsky) .
MUST (Сусло, pronunciation: Sùsla). Among the Lenten dishes listed in Dahl’s dictionary we find several references to it: “Pies without anything, sipped with must; steamed turnips, carrots, beets in hot must; must with cherries, cherry, strawberries, stone fruit…” Among the synonyms of the noun. Mash dictionaries list words such as mash, buza, wine, must, decoction, juice. This sweet infusion of flour and malt was used as a sweetener for gingerbread dough; they were used to complete simple Lenten dishes, improving their taste. The malt contained in the wort (a fermentation product rich in enzymes, obtained from sprouted grains of barley and rye) gave it a characteristic sweetish tint.
We note in passing that the same root adj. eventually licorice lost its fullness and turned into sweet in Russian, and the combination -ol- was preserved in the name of licorice, a medicinal herb that helps get rid of coughs.
MALT (Солодуха, pronunciation: Saladùkha). This Lenten dessert was prepared using rye malt. The preparation was very complicated: ferment, simmer but not overheat, add pieces of ice if necessary, then cool quickly in the cold or in the snow, then put back on the heat, throw in rye crusts and wait until it turns sour, let it ferment, then add honey and eat with a spoon. The food turned out to be thick and satisfying.
KULAGA (Кулага, pronunciation: Kulàga). A type of malt to which viburnum has been added. Kulaga had not only a pleasant sweet and sour taste, but also exceptional medicinal properties, which alleviated diseases of the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems. The noun’s origin is not entirely clear, but it is assumed that kulaga is a relative of words such as kulesh: “liquid millet porridge”; Ukrainian: Kulish; Belarusian: kulesh, Polish: kulesz; dating back to the Hungarians: köles, meaning “millet”.
SALAMATA (Саламата, pronunciation: Salamàta). It’s a spoon pastiche. Liquid porridge, boiled to a gelatinous state, or puree made from buckwheat or pre-roasted wheat flour and chopped wheat. It could be seasoned with onions and garlic for a yummy smell. The “Culinary Dictionary of V. Pokhlebkin” states that the name salamat “is found in other East Slavic languages, but its specific meaning varies depending on the region.” However, one way or another, salamat is similar to thick flour soups that save you from hunger. “Even simple kulaga or salamata – dishes of insatiable times: flour prepared with simple boiling water, left in the oven – will become so desirable when the mother will make a dimple in the middle and pour fragrant watermelon honey into it” (B. Ekimov) .
PRISON (Тюря, pronunciation: Tiùria). The liquid base for this dish was often kvas (editor’s note: drink resulting from the fermentation of bread in water, similar to a beer in appearance, slightly alcoholic and fizzy, with an amber color and an aromatic flavour, kvass, or kvas, the fermented drink originating from Eastern Europe, is also called “bread beer”. Depending on the recipes, various ingredients can be added: fruit, berries, strawberry, mint, birch sap harvested in early spring table kvass can also be used cereals, such as wheat, rye, barley, or black or rye bread with added sugar or fruit, usually apples) or water and the filling was crumbled black bread with onions and salt. It is believed that the name may have been borrowed from the noun tỹrė (pronounced: turé): “porridge”, since the food with puffy pieces of bread looked like porridge. “From the first day, the Orthodox prison was rye bread with onions, well soaked in kvass…” (S.V. Maksimov). In Russian, tyurya is not only the name of a dish, but also an offensive nickname, assigned to a person who is slow, lazy, incapable of anything.
TURNIP, or CARROT, or ONION, or POPPY PIE (Репник, морковник, луковник, маковник, pronunciation: Rèpnik, markòvnik, lukòvnik, makòvnik). These Lenten cakes take their name from the filling, which could be savory or sweet. The meaning of the expression “easier than steamed turnips” is familiar to all Russian speakers, but in most modern families turnips are no longer steamed, although earlier this elementary dish was very common. On the Lenten table you could see these vegetable pies next to other savory dishes: “They served a pie with onions and steamed turnips with kvass” (A.P. Chekhov). By the way, the adjective skoromny is a suffix derivative of skorom (“fat, butter”) and obscheslav. skorмъ has the same root as кърмъ: “to feed”.
SNACKS (Заедки, pronunciation: Zayèdki). This word, very euphoric to our ears, was used to describe what was eaten after the main meal or as a snack: nuts, raisins, plums, gingerbread dough balls, candied fruit and berries. “The boys attacked snacks, lollipops, honey gingerbread and nuts with a cry of joy” (V. Ya. Shishkov). Options for snacks are also listed in “The Summer of the Lord” by I. S. Shmelev: “And there, soaked plums, handfuls of scald, raisins and medlar, and wine berries on strings, and sweetened sesame seeds, raspberries candied fruit and rowan berries, blue raisins in a jug, really thin, fudge bars with Christmas trees in jelly, Belyov’s pastila… and gingerbread, and gingerbread… there is no end to it.”
Interestingly, the names of Lenten dishes formed the basis of many common Russian surnames: families named Kulagins, Tyurins, Salamatins, Solodukhins, Suslov live in different parts of Russia.