Russian meals

Living in Russia one can't but stick to a Russian diet. Keeping this diet for an Englishman is fatal. The Russians have meals several times a day and their cuisine is quite intricate. Three meals a day are served traditionally in Russia: breakfast, dinner and supper.

Every person starts his or her day with breakfast. Poor Englishmen are sentenced to either a continental or an English breakfast. From the Russian point of view, when one has it continental it actually means that one has no breakfast at all, because it means drinking a cup of coffee and eating a bun. A month of continental breakfasts for some Russians would mean starving. The English breakfast is a bit better, as it consists of one or two fried eggs, grilled sausages, bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms. The English have tea with milk and toast with butter and marmalade. As a choice one may have cornflakes with milk and sugar or porridge.

Russian breakfast which is usually eaten at about 8 o'clock in the morning is based on plain, simply-cooked food. Some people begin their day with a plate of gruel: boiled rice or cooked semolina but more often sandwiches with jam or honey, butter and cheese. Others prefer toasts with sausage or fried eggs. Tea or coffee finishes it off. In Russia people may have anything for breakfast. Some good-humoured individuals even prefer soup, but, of course, sandwiches and coffee are very popular.

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. That would be music for a Russian's ears until he or she learns what lunch really consists of. It may be a meat or fish course with soft drinks followed by a sweet course.

The heart of a Russian person fills with joy when the hands of the clock approach 3 o'clock. His or her dinner includes three courses. A Russian will have a starter (salad, herring, cheese, etc.), soup, steaks, mutton chops, or fish fillets with garnish, a lot of bread, of course, and something to drink. The more the better.

Dinner is the most substantial meal of the day. Here the choice of dishes is much bigger. Russians are believed to be hearty eaters and this is not surprising. Our traditional cuisine is diverse and rich in natural foodstuffs. For the first course soup is served. It can be cabbage, beetroot, milk, chicken, vegetable, pea, noodle or fish soup. Then comes the second course: mashed potatoes or boiled buckwheat, fish, poultry or meat – beef, pork, veal, mutton.

The meat may be roasted, fried, boiled. Roasting makes tough meat tender and it is especially tasty with sauce accompanied by different appetizers and plenty of vegetables. The potatoes can be prepared in different ways, too, boiled and served whole, boiled and mashed with a little milk and butter or fried. All this is followed by stewed fruit or juice. For dessert one usually has a piece of cake or a bun made of wheat flour. Russian cookery can offer you all sorts of delicious pastries, pies, rolls, cakes with cream, richly decorated and sweet-smelling that taste really good.

But if you're following a diet you have to cut down on fatty food and stodgy cakes. Try fruits and raw vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, juicy apricots, plums, grapes in preference to heavy dishes. At 4 or 5 the Russians may have a bite: waffles, cakes with juice, tea, cocoa, or something of the kind.

Supper in Russia means one more big meal. The table groans with food again. The usual time for supper is about 7 o'clock and all the members of the family sit down together. Supper also consists of fish or meat dishes, rissoles, stewed fish, omelette or curds with milk. Then, before going to bed, one may have a light snack, a cup of hot milk with a sandwich or biscuit.

In our country, bread is an important part of our everyday food. When we sit down for a meal, there is always bread on the table. For breakfast, we have bread with butter and cheese. For lunch, we eat bread with a meat or vegetable dish. Again, at dinner, we eat bread with whatever food there is on the table. When there is rice or potatoes, we have bread, too. People say that if there is no bread, there is no food.

But making up your menu you have to remember that your food must be not only well cooked and served but also nutritious and wholesome. Only then it will bring you good and rising from the table you can say "I've had a delicious meal!"

Most Russians have never counted calories and they are deeply convinced that their food healthy. Some housewives may admit that it takes some time to prepare all the stuff, including pickles, home-made preserves and traditional Russian pies and pancakes. But they don't seem to mind too much and boil, fry, roast, grill, broil, bake and make. Paraphrasing a famous proverb one can say: "What is a Russian man's meat is a British man's poison."