The Russian dishes Spanish travelers actually recommend

The Russian cuisine that Spaniards who have tried it actually stand up for

The first sip of cold kvass on a summer street in Moscow is disorienting. It is not beer, not juice, not a soft drink. It is a fermented grain drink, sweeter and lower in alcohol, which —in a plastic bottle and unpasteurized, the kind made by Orthodox nuns at a monastery, according to one participant— becomes one of those things you remember years later. The question that peine the conversation was simple: which Russian dish did visitors enjoy most? The answer, however, became so tangled that it turned into a gastronomic map of the former Soviet space, with stops in Georgia, Ukraine and Central Asia.

Blini, pelmeni and the soup you eat in summer

Among the most frequently mentioned dishes are blini, those thin pancakes eaten both sweet and savory, which, people warn, are very filling: "you eat three or four and you're well served". On top, if there is red caviar, things move up a notch. Also the pelmeni —boiled dumplings, mostly with meat or mushrooms— and the vareniki, with smetana (sour cream) as the obligatory accompaniment. Some insist that without that ingredient the dish is not complete.

The star winter soup is borsch, made with beetroot, which some point out is Ukrainian in origin even though it is widespread across the entire former USSR. For summer there is okroshka, served cold and made with kvass among its ingredients. And solyanka, served hot, with vegetables and lemon. One forum member notes that borsch only turns out well for her "in the giant pot for 15".

Herring under a fur coat and the salad that is not Russian

One of the most cited dishes is seledka pod shuboy, herring under a fur coat: layers of herring, potato, beetroot and mayonnaise. Several agree it is their favorite and that it has made its way into family Christmas dinners in Spain "to avoid overdoing the Olivier salad". About that very salad there is a repeated historical correction: in Russia it is called Olivier, after the French chef who prepared it for a tsar, and it has nothing to do with the Spanish potato salad.

Beef Stroganoff, on the other hand, divides opinion. One participant claims it is "really more of a French dish" and that nobody in Russia eats it. Another defends it as one of the dishes he liked most. The debate over what is authentically Russian and what is an export invention runs through the entire exchange.

Georgia, Dagestan and grilled lamb

A good part of the dishes that generate the most enthusiasm are not strictly Russian. Khinkali (steamed dumplings) and khachapuri are Georgian, as is shashlik, the meat skewers. Someone jokes that shashlik must have been invented by "Genghis Khan himself on a silly day", given how widespread it is across the whole Federation.

A traveler who visited Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria describes lamb skewers, steamed khinkali and chudu, crêpes filled with meat or vegetables. At a herders' camp in the Iryk-Chat valley they prepared grilled lamb for him and a lightly fermented drink similar to kefir. His conclusion: "an amazing variety of teas, a thousand times better than here".

Kvass, zefir and breakfast with syrniki

The most mentioned drink is kvass. People insist it is not beer with lemon or a radler: it is a fermented grain drink with less alcohol, sweeter and without hops. In summer, the yellow tank truck with kvass is a classic. Also mentioned are zefir, described as fluffy marshmallow-like meringues eaten with boiling-hot tea, and syrniki for breakfast.

Not everything is enthusiasm. One participant married to a Russian woman sums it up: "it's a rather sad cuisine based on potato salad and soups". Another places it behind German cuisine and far behind French. And someone recalls that Georgian food "wrecks the women of the region by the age of just 28".

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The most frequently mentioned dish in the replies is not Russian. It is Georgian. And the drink that receives the most praise is not vodka. It is monastery kvass in a plastic bottle.