Buckwheat Groats

Besides cabbage soup, no food is more Russian than kasha. As one favorite saying goes, “Cabbage soup and kasha—that’s our fare.” And this statement is made with affection rather than irony or scorn. (While in English the word “kasha” refers to the cooked groats of buckwheat so closely associated with Russian cuisine, kasha in Russian applies to any grain cooked to porridge consistency.)

The eating of kasha goes back many centuries. The early Slavic tribes used to boil their p