Russian national meal is the result of Russian people generation’s attempts to find optimal balance between different kinds of products with the aim to be healthy in Russian changeable and hard climate. To understand Russian meals specific in a logic way it is necessary to know that nature of Russia is alive and rich in summer and dead in winter. Due to it one the main dishes of Russian meals is its marinades and conservated products assortment. Delicious mushrooms and cucumbers, tomatoes and cabbages – all these meals you will find in menu of Russian restaurant in any country of the wourld. But for Russian people it is not unusual restaurant meals. For ancient Russian countryman vegetable conservation was the only way to live during long cold winter.

Speaking about Russian meal tradition it is impossible not to tell about large assortment of soups. Soup culture in Russian village began from simple “pohlebka” – soup made from any components the hostess could find at home. Also Russian tradition saves the way of cooking traditional cabbage soup which name in Russian sounds as “schi”. “Uha” – one more kind of soup in Russia. It is the soup of fishmen who cooked this dish in open air from the heads of the fish they had catched. Cookers in rich Rissian houses knew a lot of ways to prepare delicious soup with different kinds of expensive fish. Summer in Russia was the time of cold soups that saved all vitamins in its components.

Russian meals can not be imagined without different kinds of cereals. Their large assortment in Russian houses can be simply explained – and the explanation is in the climate of Russia. Seeds that were used for cooking cereals are simple to store during cold months of the year, so they were popular in Russia.

As for main dishes – meat always took its great part in Russian meals culture. Pork, beef, chicken – Russian village gave these sorts of meat for all the country.
Meat in Russia was compared with cereals, vegetables. History made some changes in traditional way of cooking in Russia. In the times on Peter the First Russia learned what potatoes are. And now potatoes play great role in Russian meals.

Russian strong beverages! All over the wourld people are surprised by strange ability of Russians to drink a lot of vodka. Vodka in Russia was one more way to keep warm during winter. It was the beverage of strong man. Women preferred the beverage which consists of vodka and honey, mixed in special way – “medovuha”. Also people prepared home-made strong beverage – “samogon”. This tradition is alive nowadays.

Non-alcogolic drinks in Russia – beverages made from berries and fruits – are still popular and a lot of hostess conservate them for winter.

At the end I would like to tell you about great role of bread in Russian meal tradition. Bread is unparticular part of every Russian dinner. And Russians, as it was hundreds years ago, still say: “Bread – everything‘s head”.