There are many other dishes, with beef, pork, poultry and fish, as well as potato salad, pickled vegetables, mushrooms, caviar, and wonderful dark bread.

Traditional Russian cuisine, an important part of Russian national culture. Our goal is to introduce you to the Russian national cuisine, with all its authenticity and originality.

In old days grain wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet - was always the main food product in Russia. Bread remains their major national food. Cattle-breeding was always popular in Russia as was hunting - hence a large choice of meat dishes included those of wild animals and fowl.

Pies have always been a par of the holiday fare. The pies are customarily filled with different kinds of meat, fish, and berries. As for the groats, millet was most often used since it was the main agricultural product. They also made various kinds of kashas (cereals), round loaves, baked puddings.

Large areas covered by woods and forests, especially in the north of Russia, were abundant in berries and mushrooms and this accounted for a wealth of "gifts of the forests" on the Russian table. One should also not forget about the fish courses. Russian cuisine was renowned for diverse delicacies, especially refreshments, made of fish. Russian rivers, lakes and seas yielded much of this tasty and useful kind of food.

Centuries have passed: Growing contacts with Western countries led to numerous borrowings in Russian cooking. In the times of Peter the Great contemporary cookers became widespread in Russia and together with them saucepans, frying-pans, straining spoons and other indispensable kitchen utensils were introduced. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Russian cooks derived various sauces and dressings for which French cuisine was famous. These innovations became an important addition to traditional Russian spices - horseradish and mustard. All of this undoubtedly enriches Russian cookery.

One more important thing should be mentioned for better understanding of Russian cooking traditions.

Russian cuisine has a rich history and offers a wide variety of soups, dishes made from fish, cereal based products and drinks. Vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, berries, herbs also play a major part while meat does not. Primordial Russian products such as caviar, sour cream, buckwheat, rye flour, etc. have had a great influence on world cuisine

Russia is an Orthodox country and all the feasts were always strictly followed. Totally there are more than 200 days in a year in which the Orthodox Christians should avoid eating meat, milk and milk products (including butter), eggs. That is why Russian cuisine widely uses vegetables, fish, berries, and mushrooms. In order to cook tasty dishes using just vegetables it is necessary to use different spice, Russians used dill, parsley, celery, later they used spidery which were delivered from other countries - pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. Nearly all dishes include onion.

Below you can find a list of most popular Russian dishes.

RUSSIAN APPETIZERS (salads) look and smell very delicious, and they stimulate appetite. Some of them are rather spicy. They are served with various seasonings and condiments, such as horseradish, mayonnaise, kvass, garlic and piquant tomato sauces, etc. lending special pungency to the dish.

RUSSIAN SOUPS. In Russia soups are served as the first course. In the Russian language the world "soup" was naturalized quite late. Originally, Russian soups were called "khlebovo" or "pokhlyobka" - soup with cereals. The typical Russian soups are schi (soup with cabbage), borscht (beet and cabbage soup), rassolnik (soup with pickled cucumbers), okroshka (cold kvass soup) and solyanka (soup with vegetables, pickled cucumbers, olives and bits of meat).

RUSSIAN MEAT dishes. Russian cuisine has always been rich in meat dishes of beef, pork, lamb, poultry and wild animals.Meat dishes are usually served with vegetables (mostly fried) or mashed potato, noodles or cereal.

RUSSIAN HOT FISH dishes. In Russian cuisine fish dishes are the most favorite ones. The rivers, lakes and seas by which Russian people settled always gave them this tasty and accessible food.

Especially valued were sturgeon, salmon and other fishes of this kind. Most often fish dished are served with fried or mashed potato.

RUSSIAN PASTRY. In Russian cooking bread and pastry have always been especially important. Guests were met with bread and salt. Of no lesser importance were pies - a symbol of wealth and well-being.

Russian women are famous for their skills in preparation of different dishes using dough: blini (pancakes and crepes), kulebyakas, rasstegais, cheese cakes, spice-cakes, etc.