Belarus eat · Eating in Belarus
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Eating in Belarus
Eating in Belarus
Potatoes, pork, beef, bread - in a nutshell.
If you are looking for a national gourmet meal - you are in the right place. Most of the products and ingredients are organic, and radiation levels are constantly checked in the food to avoid contamination.
"Take fresh aurochs, and if you do not have any, you can use the elk instead".�
From an 18th century
Belarusian cookbook
Modern Belarusian cookery is based on old national traditions, which have undergone a long historical evolution. But the main methods of traditional Belarusian cuisine are carefully kept by the people.
Common in Belarusian cuisine were dishes from potato which is called among people "the second bread". The Belarusians bring fame to their beloved potato in their verses, songs, dances. There are special potato cafes in the country where you can try various potato dishes. Potato is included into many salads and it is served together with mushrooms and/or meat; different pirazhki (patties) and baked puddings are made from it. The most popular among the Belarusians is traditional draniki (known as "latkes" to North Americans, but eaten only with sour cream, never apple sauce), thick pancakes prepared from shredded potatoes. A wide spread of potato dishes in Belarusian cuisine can be explained by natural climatic conditions of Belarus which are propitious for growing highly starched and tasty sorts of potatoes.
Meat and meat products play a major role in the diet of Belarusians, especially to the pork and salted pork fat. One of the people's proverbs says: "There is no fish more tasty than tench, as well as there is no meat better than pork". The salted pork fat is used slightly smoked and seasoned with onions and garlic. Pyachysta is one of the traditional holiday dishes. This is boiled, stewed or roasted sucking pig, fowl or large chunks of pork or beef. Dishes prepared from meat are usually served together with potatoes or vegetables such as carrot, cabbage, black radish, peas, etc. It is characteristic that many vegetable and meat dishes are prepared in special stoneware pots.
Among dishes from fish, the Belarusians prefer yushka, galki and also baked or boiled river-fish without special seasonings. In general, what concerns the most common seasonings such as onions, garlic, parsley, dill, caraway seeds, pepper; they are used very moderately in Belarusian cookery. The national dishes are hearty and tasty nonetheless. The choices of are fresh, dried, salted and pickled mushrooms, and also berries such as bilberry, wild strawberries, red whortlberry, raspberries, cranberries and some others. Of flour dishes, the most popular is zacirka. Pieces of specially prepared dough are boiled in water and then poured over with milk or garnished with salted pork fat. The Belarusians prefer to use whole milk, which affected some methods of making yoghurt and the so called klinkovy cottage cheese. In Belarusian cuisine, the milk is widely used for mixing in vegetable and flour dishes.
Myadukha, berezavik, kvas, and beer are traditional Belarusian drinks.
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Belarus Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.