This is a quick introduction to Warsaw’s milk bars, which are important cultural institutions as well as great places to eat, and to the Polish food they offer and the Polish language needed to order in them. While English-speaking eating establishments can be found, they will typically be more expensive and less of an important […]

Kulich (Кулич) is a lightly sweet, yeast-risen bread baked with considerable amounts of egg and butter. It may also contain raisins, almonds, candied or dried fruit, lemon zest, and various spices including cardamom and even saffron depending on the recipe and personal preferences. It is a tall, cylindrical-shaped bread with a rounded top, and it […]

Medovukha (медовуха) is a Slavic honey-based alcoholic beverage. It is one of the most recent and perhaps the best known iteration of a long evolutionary tree of Russian honey-based beverages that can be traced all the way back to the Old Slavs. In Russia today, some argue that a return to these honey drinks, which […]

Kartoshka cake, known as in Russian as “пирожное картошка” (Pirozhnoe kartoshka – literally “cake potato”), or sometimes more affectionately just картошка (kartoshka – “potato”), is a mouthwatering pastry that takes many people from the former USSR back to their childhood. Once used to prevent food loss and combat shortages, kartoshka cake spread widely in the […]

Pelmeni (Пельмени) are Russian dumplings: small portions of ground meat and onion wrapped in a thin, unleavened dough and boiled. While Russians prize pelmeni as a Siberian dish, “рецепт русских пельменей может на самом являться измененной версией китайских пельменей” (the recipe may actually be an adaptation of Chinese pot-stickers). Other ancient foods such as manti, […]

The history of coffee in Russia has long reflected the country’s wider history. Originally a western import brought by Peter the Great, coffee culture has risen and fallen with the country’s revolutions and wars, and with its economic developments and collapses. Today, an increasingly thriving coffee culture can be found across Russia as record amounts […]

Borsch (Борщ) is one of the most popular soups in Central and Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is sweet and sour, healthy and can be eaten at any time of year. It has a complicated and very long history, with the soup changing over time within various geographic regions. Today, the broadly recognized “standard” borsch […]

Solyanka (Солянка), is made from pickled vegetables, meat, and sour cream. It is considered traditionally Russian but is today enjoyed across the former Soviet space and Eastern Bloc, and particularly in East Germany. Having been served for hundreds of years in several countries, solyanka has gone through a lot of modifications and now has many different […]

Okroshka (Окрошка) is a cold soup that probably originated in the Volga region of Russia. Because of its light, refreshing taste, it is popularly served in summer. The soup usually consists of diced vegetables, eggs, and meats in a base of either kvass or kefir and is often garnished with sour cream. Best known in […]