Don't ask how many parts are going to be, but by writing part 1 i force myslef to later write at least a second one :)

 

Firstly i want to mention that even in Hungary, which is a 183 times smaller country than Russia, there are a lot of foods which are related to a region, not the whole country. In Russia, there are a lot more regions, and a lot more ethnicities (27 languages are official regionally somewhere in Russia, in Yekaterinburg just Russian). So obviously all "national foods" have a lot of variations, just like fishermans' soup has in Hungary. ALso, Russian  cuisine shares a lot of meals with other eastern European countries, especially Ukraine and Belarus.

 

In this first part, i am going to write about two soups (the two most popular ones), a drink and maybe something else.

 

The two most popular soups (worldwide), are Borsch and Solyanka. On the picture, Julia eats Solyanka and I eat Borsch after taking the picture. I prefer Borsch, both are for vegetable-lovers, or at least not for those who don't like vegetables at all. In respect for our freshly resigned president, i will copy some text from Wikipedia here without citing it properly :)

 

It is made with beetroot as the main ingredient, giving it a deep reddish-purple color. It usually contains heavy starchy vegetables including potatoes and beets, but may also contain carrots, spinach, and meat. It may be eaten as a meal in itself, but is usually eaten as an appetizer with thick, dark bread.

 

Solyanka is my second favourite Russian soup, it is easier (for me) to imagine meat in solyanka, but i like the taste of borsch more. Btw, about spelling in Hungarian: Borscs and Szoljanka, Russian: Борщ and солянка. So i donno which is more difficult to do, but in fast food restaurants they are either for the same price or borsch is 5-10% cheaper, even if there is no meat in solyanka. So the stolen text about solyanka:

 

There are three basic types of solyanka, with the main ingredient being either meat, fish, or mushrooms. All of them contain pickled cucumbers with brine, and often cabbage, salted mushrooms, smetana (sour cream), and dill. The soup is prepared by cooking the cucumbers with brine before adding the other ingredients to the broth.

 

The common thing (for me) in both is (apart from that they both contain water) that they both are better if you put smetana (sour cream) on it just before starting to eat it. In fast food restaurants it's usually possible, if not, find another one, there are many :)

 

I got a bottle of borsch and a solyanka for christmas from my mom, it was in concentrate, here is the picture. So it's possible to buy it in Europe if you have a Russian supermarket nearby, for Budapest check http://arbat.hu/ (they also have a restaurant in Fót next to (or in) Cora hypermarket, i haven't been there, but i guess it's cool). It's sold in a half liter concentrate, a family can eat it with dinner, you just need to add water ... i suppose...

 

About the drink: also more like general Eastern European drink called Kvas, the stolen wikipedia text follows, respect dear president:

 

Kvass is a fermented beverage made from black or regular rye bread. The colour of the bread used contributes to the colour of the resulting drink. It is classified as a non-alcoholic drink by Russian standards, as the alcohol content from fermentation is typically less than 1.2%. Overall, the alcohol content is low (0.05% - 1.0%). It is often flavoured with fruits or herbs such as strawberries, raisins or mint.

 

I personally don't like it very much, it's not expensive and you can buy it in every supermarket, so it would be convenient to like it, but i don't. I can drink it, but water is a bit better. Maybe it's just because i always bought the cheapest one, the more expensive ones might be better. Now in winter there is no street culture of it, but in the summer there were many street kvas-sellers, and also in the winter you can bring your bottle to places usually next to or in supermarkets, and refill with kvas. And because of the low alcohol concentration it is allowed to drink on the street (although seemingly not everybody counts alcohol percentage here before starting to drink on the street ...).

 

When i promised i will write about something more, i did not know abt what but i figured it out: in the beginning of the week i bought Lavash, which is a middle-east type of bread, also popular in central asia. And probably it's being sold here primarily because of the many central asians living here as guest workers or locals. It's quite tasty, and not expensive at all (a reason why i tried was that it was discounted and was cheaper then bread, temporarily i guess). I am not a bread expert, (as u might have figured out not a soup expert either) i donno how it is made, stolen wikipedia text will follow:

 

Lavash (Turkish and Azeri: lavaş, Georgian: lavaši, Kurdish: Lawaş, Persian: lavāš) is a soft, thin flatbread popular in several countries of the northern parts of the Middle-East and the southern parts of the Caucasus. Traditionally the dough is rolled out flat and slapped against the hot walls of a clay oven.

 

I don't think they slap it against the hot wall of the clay oven in Megamart, but still it was delicious and huge, we ate it with potatoes, bacon and vegetables, it was quite a heavy food surprisingly for me. (with food it's quite easy to surprise me as u can see :) )

 

Food post ends, main news of the past few days is that i bought tickets to Tobolsk and Tyumen for end of next week, two day trip to Western Siberia will unavoidably come ...