Cuisine

Russian and Eastern European

Slavic cooking of beetroot, cabbage, potatoes, buckwheat and rye, filled dumplings, soups, sour cream and dill, and a deep tradition of fermentation.

Flavour character: Earthy and sour-savoury: beetroot sweetness, sour cream, fermented cabbage and pickles, dill and garlic, smoky pork, rye bread's sourness, mushrooms.

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Borsch can be served hot or cold. It is usually served with sour cream and sometimes dill

History

Rye, buckwheat, cabbage, turnips, mushrooms and fermented foods (sauerkraut, kvass, pickled cucumbers) fed the region for centuries. The masonry stove (Russian pech) encouraged slow-baked porridges and soups. Potatoes spread in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 19th-century Russia, French chefs influenced aristocratic dining, while French restaurants in turn adopted service à la russe (serving courses in sequence). The Soviet era standardised dishes such as Olivier salad across the USSR. Ukraine's borscht cooking was inscribed by UNESCO in 2022 as in need of urgent safeguarding.

Well documented

Geography and influences

The vast plains, forests and steppe from Poland to the Urals: rye, wheat (especially in Ukraine), buckwheat, potatoes, beetroot, cabbage, forest mushrooms and freshwater fish.

Byzantine Orthodox fasting
Tatar and Central Asian cooking (pelmeni, dumplings)
French aristocratic cooking
Ashkenazi Jewish cooking
Soviet standardisation

Regional variations

Russia: Pelmeni, shchi, blini, kasha and zakuski tables.
Ukraine: Borscht with pampushky, varenyky, salo (cured pork fat).
Poland: Pierogi, bigos, żurek, kotlet schabowy.
Belarus: Potato-centred dishes: draniki, kalduny, machanka.

Festive and seasonal food

Twelve meatless dishes at Christmas Eve (Wigilia in Poland, Sviata Vecheria in Ukraine), including kutia
Kulich and paskha at Orthodox Easter
Blini at Maslenitsa
Olivier salad and seld pod shuboy at New Year