| Religion has not yet become the driving force behind Russian culinary experts On Monday, March 10, Lent began for Orthodox Christians. For seven weeks - until Easter, which this year falls on April 27 - believers will have to limit themselves in food. If you scrupulously follow religious norms of abstinence, then you will have to remove all food of animal origin from the menu - meat, milk, fish, eggs. Only purely vegetarian products are allowed - cereals, vegetables and mushrooms. A fasting person will have to forget about cutlets, steaks, omelettes, cheeses and other very tasty things for almost 50 days.
Fasting, of course, is quite difficult. Thoughts about all kinds of tempting but forbidden dishes are constantly spinning in my head. But the worst thing about Lent is not the eaters, but the cooks. Housewives need to have extraordinary culinary talents in order to create not only a tasty, but also at least more or less varied menu for their family from the few allowed products. After all, you can’t put your family on endless oatmeal and salads—it could lead to divorce! Life is a little easier for professional chefs in various establishments - they have more experience and, as a rule, a richer choice of products. Several years ago, the first restaurants began to appear in Russia, introducing an additional vegetarian menu during numerous Christian fasts. This fashion has gradually spread, and now a special offer consisting of Lenten dishes has become almost a mandatory element of restaurant service.
This year, the Moscow Railway also joined the fight for the fasting client. Starting Monday, railway workers promised to introduce a Lenten menu in their dining cars. This set of dishes includes not only squash caviar and tomato and cucumber salad, standard for domestic catering, but also mushroom noodles and even peppers stuffed with rice and vegetables. Those who fast can only regret that not all passenger trains in the country belong to the Ministry of Railways.
Food for fasting people is now offered even in the “main canteen of the country”: the Kremlin menu includes many dishes that do not include either fish or meat. According to the press secretary of the presidential administration, Viktor Khrekov, senior officials of the Russian government and their subordinates are offered a very rich choice: beetroot soup, lean borscht, green cabbage soup, mushroom soup, a variety of salads, cereals and other dishes that please the vegetarian eye. It would be interesting to know what part of the Kremlin officials actually limited themselves in food on the occasion of Orthodox Lent, but information about the taste preferences of high-ranking officials is rarely made public.
It’s curious, but in Russia, Lent every year demonstrates the oddities of the domestic consumer market. It would seem that in a situation where for almost two months millions of Russian citizens who consider themselves members of the Orthodox faith do not eat meat, fish and dairy, one would expect a fall in prices for meat and milk and, accordingly, an increase in the price of rolled oats and Druzhba cereals " After all, any economist from his student days knows that prices follow demand. However, nothing like this happens: no massive discounts on sour cream, chicken legs and sausages, and rice and barley remain the same price. However, apparently, out of millions of Orthodox Christians, thousands, at best tens of thousands, observe strict fasting. More often than not, the passion for cutlets takes precedence over the need for seven weeks of abstinence. Vladimir DZAGUTO |
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