Russian Cuisine

Russian cuisine has long been famous all over the world. International restaurants have adopted such Russian ingredients as caviar, sour cream, buckwheat and rye flours, and been indirectly influenced by Russian culinary art.

The history of Russian cuisine can be divided into several stages. It began to form in the ninth and tenth centuries and reached its pinnacle in the fifteenth and sixteenth. Many of the original features have been retained to this day.

During the early period, Russian bread made from sour dough containing yeast appeared and became the main staple on every Russian table. All the other major dough-based delicacies also used sour dough. The Russian predilection for acid or sour tastes was also reflected in the appearance of oat, wheat and rye kissel (a kind of mealy jelly) which in time gave way to the contemporary popular kissel made with berries. An important place in the Russian menu was also devoted to various cereal grains, originally used as ritual festival food. All these flour- and cereal-based foods were then embellished with fish, mushrooms, wild berries, vegetables, milk and, more rarely, meat. Classic Russian beverages like mead and kvass began to appear in this first period.