The meal

Rules and customs of eating

Perhaps each of us has participated at least once in the debate about how a person should eat. From time to time, it becomes fashionable to be a veterinarian, then a raw food diet, then some special diets. And almost every side will claim to take an example from our ancestors. In the old days, the choice was obvious — food should be healthy. Moreover, if you look closely, you can note that each nation had its own taste preferences. Meat and dairy dishes formed the basis of the diet of the Turkic peoples of Siberia, Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples consumed meat and fish. Cooking among Russian old-timers was based not on art, but on traditions. Eating was subject to fasts, there were four of them in a year, and the longest and strictest was Lent.

The basis of the peasants' diet was flour and vegetable dishes — products of agriculture and horticulture. They ate mostly black rye bread, considering it more useful than white wheat. Bread was baked from wheat flour for the holidays. If we are talking about the nutrition of Siberians, then we recall the flour dish — dumplings. Dumplings were made by the whole family for the winter holidays, 600−800 pieces each. Of the vegetable dishes, porridges, all kinds of hot and cold stews (okroshki) were in the first place. They ate little fresh meat, but they ate corned beef, meat of wild animals (moose, wild deer, etc.), hog and waterfowl. They ate all kinds of fish that were found in the rivers of Siberia. The fish was eaten fried, salted, raw (stroganina). The traditional dish of Siberians is fish soup, and the most important fish dish is caviar. Kvass, braga, homemade beer and, of course, tea were known from drinks. Among other Russians, Siberians are perhaps the biggest tea lovers.

Everyone had their own place at the table. The peasants ate with a spoon or with their hands. It was forbidden to slurp, blow your nose, talk, scratch your head at the table. When the head of the family got up from the table, the meal was considered finished.

Peasant food

The main products that made up the diet of Siberians were those that were produced in their household. Milk, meat, vegetables, eggs, and cereal products made up most of it. Eating was associated with the need to observe fasts. 4 fasts were observed annually, lasting 130 days. All Wednesdays and Fridays were fast days, with the exception of holidays, when it was allowed to eat meat and dairy food. The main place on the table of Siberians was occupied by bread, the consumption of which per capita our country has always ranked first in the world.

Fish has always been used in the cuisine of Siberians in countless forms: steamed or undercooked, boiled, solid, made in a special way from a single fillet, boneless, but with skin, fried, mended (filled with porridge, onions or mushrooms), stewed, aspic, baked in scales, baked in a frying pan in sour cream, salted, dried, dried in the wind and sun (roach) and dried in the oven (sushik). In Western Siberia, they ate frozen raw (stroganina). Smoked fish was less common in Siberian folk cuisine until the middle of the XIX century, which, on the contrary, has recently been widely used in three types — cold smoked, hot smoked and smoked-dried.

Siberians grew pumpkin, turnips, carrots, beets, cabbage, and cucumbers from vegetable crops. Potato crops were small, and a limited number of dishes were prepared from it. As a rule, Siberians fried potatoes, baked pancakes (cutlets made of grated raw potatoes). Cabbage, beets, carrots were stewed with butter or put in pies. Cucumbers were salted for the winter, and in the summer they were eaten with honey. Dishes such as salads have never been typical of Siberian cuisine, they appeared in Russia already in the XIX century as one of the borrowings from the West.

Drinks

Drinks were given special importance in peasant cuisine. Drinking was mandatory when meeting a guest, during a festive or ceremonial meal. It was believed that whoever did not drain the bowls was the enemy, because he did not drink to the full health of the owner of the house. This is evidenced by Russian proverbs: "Who did not drink to the bottom, did not wish well," "You do not drink enough, you dislike so much."

Among the drinks, the peasants consumed kvass (bread, and sometimes berry and beetroot), jelly, sbiten, beer, and braga.

They were also very popular, especially where beekeeping was developed, "honey made", for the preparation of which honey was diluted with water, fermented with yeast or hops and allowed to stand to a fortress. The water, which was diluted with honey, was previously infused with berries.

Tea appeared in Siberia at the end of the XVIII century. At that time, this drink served as a symbol of well-being, because it was quite expensive. Merchants and officials could afford tea. The rest drank whitehead (meadowsweet or meadowsweet) and other herbs. The Old Believers preferred lime, raspberry, and carrot teas. They also drank tea from badan, a mountain plant with strong tonic and astringent properties, which was also exported from China or collected in the Altai Mountains, for medicinal purposes.

Tea consumption became widespread only in the second half of the 19th century, with the development of trade and the appearance of cheap varieties. In 1901, 57 rubles per pood were asked for a good grade of black Chinese tea, and brick tea — pressed tea crumbs — could be bought for 43 rubles per pood (16.38 kg). Chekhov, during his trip to Siberia, wrote that "in lousy towns, even officials drink brick tea and the best shops do not keep tea for more than 1 rub. 50 kopecks per pound."

The methods of making tea were varied. In Eastern Siberia, "zaturan" was brewed from cheap brick tea with the addition of salt, milk and flour fried in some kind of oil. In the north, they cooked "overcooked" tea with flour fried in fish oil. On the border with China, they bought a special kind of large-leaved tea with twigs, which was called "shar". They drank a strong decoction of it, sometimes with the addition of milk.

Milk and various dishes made from it were widely used. In winter, the excess milk was frozen in a metal container, and after freezing, it was taken out and stored in the cold. As needed, this milk was thawed, boiled and consumed.

Vodka in Siberia was drunk both plain and with all sorts of spices, which was called "specialty" or "tincture" here. Unlike the common people, who drank "simple wine" (alcohol diluted to a strength of 40 degrees), the merchants preferred "purified". The prices for alcohol were as follows: in 1890, a bucket (a Russian measure of liquid — 12.3 liters) of wine at 40 degrees cost an average of 1 ruble 50 kopecks, and vodka products, depending on quality, from 5 rubles 20 kopecks to 16 rubles. Wholesale beer prices ranged from 80 kopecks to 2 rubles per bucket, porter cost more — 3−4 rubles.