Belarusian cuisine[a] refers to the culinary traditions native toBelarus andits people. It shares many similarities with the cuisines of otherCentral and Eastern European countries, particularly those ofPoland,Russia, andUkraine. It is based predominantly onmeat and variousvegetables typical of the region.
Belarusian cuisine has predominantlySlavic roots. Along with aRuthenian influence, it is also linked withLithuanian andPolish because of the long intermingling of these three peoples; first within theGrand Duchy of Lithuania (11th–16th centuries) and later within thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th–17th centuries). Still, some of the borrowed dishes spread throughout the society, such aslazanki (Belarusian:лазанки, a mixture of flourdumplings and stewed meat, related to Italianlasagna) and, above all, various dishes made of gratedpotatoes, typical of German cuisine.
Modern Belarusian cuisine is still heavily influenced by its recent Soviet past, and many local restaurants feature Russian or Soviet dishes rather than true specialties of local cuisine. However,draniki (both plain and stuffed),borscht, khaladnik (Belarusian:халaдник), machanka (Belarusian:мачанка), zrazy (Belarusian:зразы), cold meat rolls, eggs stuffed with mushrooms,halubtsy (Belarusian:галубцы), fried raw pork sausage, andblini are likely to be found everywhere, as well as sour rye bread.
A traditional peasant or merchant's dinner consisted of just two dishes: soup and a main course. A special kind of clay pot with two compartments, the sparysh (Belarusian:спарыш), was used by farmers' children to bring lunch to their father working in the fields. Prior toWorld War II,salads or other snacks were not very common, and recipes based on Russian models tended to appear in modern Belarusian post-war cookbooks.Fresh white cheese and various kinds of cold meats (usually smoked) were available, however, at least on holidays.
Sincewheat does not grow well in a cold and wet climate, Belarusians were always fond of somewhat sourrye bread, and the most traditional hard drink, the localvodka orharelka (Belarusian:гарэлка), was distilled primarily from rye malt.
Like otherSlavic peoples, Belarusians could boast of a huge variety of pancakes (bliny) of various thicknesses, plain and filled, made mostly of wheat orbuckwheat flour, but also usingoatmeal (tsadaviki,Belarusian:цадавики).
Various kinds ofcereal, especiallybarley, oatmeal, and buckwheat, were common. Belarus was the likely centre of Europe's buckwheat culture, and dishes made with this healthy grain used to be very popular: various kinds ofbuns,cakes, and dumplings, which, except for the well-knownkasha, no longer exist today.
The mainvegetables werecabbage (often made intosauerkraut) andbeets, whileturnips,swedes,parsnip andcarrots both stewed and boiled (with the addition of a small amount ofmilk) were somewhat less popular. Like elsewhere in Europe,legumes were the main source ofprotein, mainly in the form of kamy (puree ofpeas orbeans with melted lard).
The wordsoup was not known in Belarus until the 18th century when the nobility borrowed it from German, but soup as a type of dish clearly existed centuries earlier. The old word for most traditional Belarusian soups waspolivka (поліўка), except for those named after the vegetable that was the main ingredient:kapusta (cabbage soup),buraki (beet soup),gryzhanka (swede soup). For a typicalpolivka the major ingredients (fish ormushrooms during fasts) were first boiled withspices; cereals such as barley ormillet were boiled in the stock, and then flour blended with water, breadkvass, beet juice orbuttermilk was added to the stock. Blackpolivka, made withgoose orpork blood, is closely related to theSwedishsvartsoppa. Offering a matchmaker blackpolivka was the polite way for the bride's parents to decline a young man's proposal. Like the Ukrainians, Russians and the Poles, Belarusians are fond ofborscht, a thick and rich beet and cabbage soup made with grains, potato, and meat. Soups are much more authentic, both hot (shchi, borscht,sorrel soup) and especially cold sour soups, which provide cooling relief during the hot summer.
The Belarusiankhaladnik (халаднік), a cold borscht made of beets, beet leaves orsorrel and served withsour cream,hard-boiled eggs, and boiled potatoes, has been a popular dish also inPolish andLithuanian cuisines since the late 18th century.
Garbuzok is a popular pumpkin soup.[1]
Meat was in rather scarce supply for most people, and was primarily eaten only on the mainChristian holidays. Avid consumers of pork, Belarusians are less partial tomutton andbeef. Most common was raw porksausage – a pig intestine stuffed with minced or chopped meat seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic. Its common name, "finger-stuffed sausage" (каўбаса, «пальцам пханая», or in short,пальцоўка), provided a graphic description of the primitive production technology.[2]Kishkа (Belarusian:кішка), orkryvianka (крывянка), was a localblood sausage (крывяная каўбаса) made ofpig's blood and buckwheat grain. Shkalondza (шкалондза), orkindziuk (кіндзюк), a particular kind of round sausage made of pig stomach filled with pork minced with spices[3] – a relative of the Lithuanianskilandis – was known throughout the country. Borrowed from Italian cuisine by nobility in the 16th century, cold meat rolls,salcesons andbalerons were common to all of society by the 19th century, and are still very popular. Smoked goose breastpauguski (паўгускі), a local Belarusian and Lithuanian delicacy, was once the pride of middle-class cuisine, but no longer exists today.
Verashchaka (верашчака), an 18th-century thick meat gravy with pieces of meat and sausage used as a dip or sauce for thick pancakes, is still one of the most popular specialties of Belarusian restaurants today, although it is now generally calledmachanka (мачанка). Also popular arezrazy, chopped pieces of beef rolled into a sausage shape and filled with vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, or potato. Pork dishes are usually fried or stewed, garnished with cheese or mushrooms. Beef steaks are also quite frequent, but mutton, once very popular, is almost entirely limited toCaucasian andCentral Asian restaurants, although some still eat it today.
Salo is also commonly eaten. Consisting of cured slabs of pork fat, it is often taken on trips as a snack or eaten cooked.
Kalduny, small boiled dumplings related to Russianpelmeni and Italianravioli, were produced in a wide array of combinations of dough, filling and sauce. Especially popular were kalduny Count Tyshkevich, filled with a mixture of fried local mushrooms and smokedham. In the late 19th century, kalduny began to be made with grated potato rather than with a flour-based dough and the former large variety of fillings shrank considerably.[citation needed] Today, kalduny have to struggle vigorously to regain their former popularity, now overtaken by the Russian pelmeni.[citation needed]
The maindairy foods include a kind offresh white cheese (тварог) andsour cream (смятана), which is widely used both in cooking and as a garnish. Only in the mid-19th century was fermentedcheese (сыр) borrowed from theNetherlands andSwitzerland, and the local version ofEdam was very popular for decades in theRussian Empire. Sourbutter from the formerDzisna county was exported to Britain, where it continued to be the most expensive variety up toWorld War I.
The traditional hard drink isvodka orharelka (гарэлка), including varieties made frombirch sap (biarozavik,бярозавік) or flavored with forestherbs (zubrovka,зуброўка).Mead and similar alcoholic drinks made ofhoney andspices were very common up until the 19th century and then more or less disappeared until the latest revival of the national cuisine. A notable example in this group iskrambambula (крамбамбуля), vodka diluted with water, mixed with honey, and flavored with spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, red and black pepper). In the 18th century, this drink competed with French champagne in Belarus and only wealthy people could afford it. Today it is enjoying a popular revival, as is evident from the appearance ofkrambambula recipes and histories on the internet.[4][5]
Kvass traditionally was and still remains the main local non-alcoholic drink, although it is increasingly made withsugars and artificial flavorings rather than with genuine rye malt and natural flavorings.Kompot is also a relatively popular beverage, normally made of dried or fresh fruit, boiled, and then cooled. Every small town boasts a local variety ofmineral water. Belarusians prefer carbonated water.
Тraditional liquid desserts that accompany a meal includesaladukha (саладуха), a thick liquid made ofrye flour andhoney that was popular in the 18th century, andkissel, the traditional jelly drink of Eastern Europe made from the pulp of forest berries or cooked fruits, originally thickened with oatmeal (now replaced bypotato starch flour orcornstarch).
Belarusian cuisine owes much toJewish cooking. In the 19th century, Jewish influence was especially noticeable in bringing in potato dishes of German origin, such asbabka. This was a two-way gastronomic street, for the famousbulbe latkes, the potato pancakes of the East European Jews, may have been borrowed from the Belarusiandraniki.
Another important minority ethnic group which influenced Belarusian cuisine were theLipka Tatars, whoseTatar cuisine was especially strong in various cakes with fillings, mutton and vegetable dishes.
Belarus is known for farming potatoes just like Ukraine is known for farming wheat. The humble potato became so common in the 19th century that there are more than 300 potato dishes recorded in Belarus and it came to be considered the core ingredient of the national cuisine.Draniki, pancakes made from grated potatoes, are often considered a "signature" national dish.[6] Belarus is regularly ranked as the top country for potato consumption per capita, with each Belarusian consuming around 160 kg of potatoes yearly.[7]
In theRussian Empire and theSoviet Union, Belarusians were sometimes calledbulbashi, a pejorative conjugation of the Belarusian wordбульба (bulba) 'potato'.[8]
Typical salads are made of a fairly short list of ingredients, combining boiled beef orchicken, potato, beet, carrot,apple,herring, diced cheese, cannedpeas andcorn, canned fish, 'crab fingers',onions and mushrooms, generously seasoned withmayonnaise orsunflower oil. One of the most typical local salads is theBiałowieża salad, which combines boiled chicken meat with friedmushrooms,onions, andpickled cucumbers, mixed with mayonnaise and garnished with choppedhard-boiled egg.[9] Freshvegetable salads are also widely available:tomatoes (also mixed withcucumbers) and onions seasoned with sour cream;radishes withdill and sunflower oil (or sour cream); shredded cabbage salad seasoned with sunflower oil or mayonnaise (similar to coleslaw); andpickled cabbage withcaraway seeds orcranberries with onions seasoned with sunflower oil are common.
Historically, Belarusians had little access to seafood, and this is still evident in the cuisine. The most common sea fish (after herring, which has been the most common appetizer all along theBaltic coast and its vicinity ever since the 14th century) arehake andcod and there are relatively few dishes with such fish. Much more traditional and common are lake fish, notablyzander, cooked in a wide variety of ways, andcarp (especially the famous stuffed carp, thegefilte fish of Jewish cuisine).Eels, smoked or stuffed, are the specialty of the lake country in the northwestern part of Belarus, adjacent toLatvia and Lithuania.
Side dishes are usually boiled, fried ormashed potatoes,buckwheat kasha,rice orpasta. Meat dishes are frequently served with bliny or draniki stacked in round clay pots.
