Toasted Sunflower Seeds

No picture of the Russian peasant is quite complete unless it also depicts a handful of sunflower seeds. The love of these crisp seeds is near-universal, and even though it is considered gauche to crunch them in public, the floors of public buildings— especially waiting rooms—bear testimony to their popularity. The careful observer can always spot the site of an erstwhile line from the sunflower hulls strewn over the ground. One of my favorite memories of Russia is of a tiny girl boarding a