Does Russian Cuisine Reflect the Fatalistic Russian Mentality?

Here is one person’s opinion: ‘One of the things a foreign visitor is interested in is a national cuisine. Some people in the USA, for example, instead of inviting you to their home, will suggest going to the restaurant. In Russia, on the contrary, people prefer to see you at their place. They spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and are happy to treat you to typically Russian dishes. This is what they call ‘Russian hospitality!’ What do their foreign guests think about it?

They say that one of the special peculiarities is the freshness of the ingredients and simplicity of cooking methods. Here is one more opinion about Russian cooking: ‘I think somehow it reflects the fatalistic Russian mentality, a sort of come-what-may (зд. “будь что будет”) approach to life. Imagine, for example, when cooking soup you forgot to turn the heat off … Well, the soup will probably be richer. Or if you skipped an ingredient or two … No problem – just don’t forget to add them next time …’ (B. Povaroff. Glasnost Gourmet. English № 44, November 2000). Do you agree or disagree with such an opinion? Why or why not?

Do Eating Habits Reflect Our Character?

Are our food preferences, in any way, connected with our character? Experts think they surely are. Some people, forexample, are not keen on dishes whichdon’t look beautiful.In fact, they haven’t got a large appetite. There are some sorts of things they refuse to eat at all, and even when they are given one of their favourites they always leave half of it on the plate. ‘Picky eaters’ is the name for such people. Experts think ‘picky eaters’ are very sensitive and touchy. They also have a tendency to make fun of things. They are very artistic. They set themselves very high standards and don’t like to fail.

At the opposite extreme are ‘Hungry eaters’. They are more interested in quantity than quality. They can’t stand getting up from the table if they still have room in their stomachs. They prefer some simple garnish like rice, potatoes or cooked vegetables to salads, and would rather drink a cup of tea than fruit juice. Experts think Hungry eaters are hard-working and generous; they aren’t ambitious and hate changes of any sort, they worry about the future.

Answer the following questions.

1. Do you agree with the connection the text makes between what you eat and what you are? 2. Can you give any examples from your own experience or from what you read in the books?

Is Being a ‘Food Addict’ a Real Problem?

This is what Linda T. Crawford, a house-wife, writes about it:

‘The cravings I experienced for almost sixteen years were absolutely overpowering. I felt completely at their mercy, as if I had no real control over them.

Even if it was the middle of the night, I would put on my coat over my pyjamas, my slippers into boots, and drive to a 24-hour store to satisfy my urge for something sweet. Then I would go into a sort of trance and begin eating and eating. Not just one or two doughnuts, but at least a dozen, one after another until my heart stopped pounding and my desperate feelings of wanting quieted down.

I tried to cut down but failed my attempts. It was a real problem.’

(http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/)

Answer the following questions.

1. Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s idea?

a) Food addicts try to solve their problems telling other people about them.

b) Food addicts suffer desperately and want other people help them.

c) Food addicts try to cut down eating.

2. Do you agree that the problem described in the letter is really important? Why or why not? Have you ever had such a problem? Did you cut down eating any kind of food to get thinner?

A NATIVE TWIST

To America’s earliest European settlers, North America was a land of hidden wealth. Although the forest was full of game, waters filled with fish, and fruits and vegetables were plentiful in both cultivated and wild forms, the Pilgrims did not even know where to look for supplying with necessities of life.

The Native Americans, meanwhile, were feasting on the sort of traditional homegrown foods that would make modern mouths water – they domesticated and hybridized more than 150 botanicals, including six species of corn, five main species of beans, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, strawberries and other fruits and vegetables. They introduced their wealth to the Europeans, who in turn shared with the natives the exotics they had brought to the continent. The joint exchange of knowledge resulted in what you could call Native American cuisine. Some of our classics are actually more all-American than most of us realize: barbecues and clambakes, steamed lobsters and stuffed oysters, baked beans, corn bread, chili, and smoked salmon.

Still, the first ‘Thanksgiving’ (it wasn’t called that yet in 1621), a three-day harvest feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the 50-member community and about 100 invited Native American guests, was not quite the traditional turkey-and-fixing. Sure, there was turkey – but there were also ducks, geese, swans, cod and sea bass.

And while Cape Cod was literary bursting at the seams with oysters, mussels and clams, no shellfish was served at the feast because it was considered poverty fare. Lobsters, in fact, were so plentiful that they were fed to pigs.

There was also no apple pie, because apples were not native to New England, and the newly planted trees needed years to bear fruit.

Native American cooking is the original low-salt, low-sugar, low-fat, high-fiber diet. Salt was used only rarely by coastal tribes, and sweeteners came straight from the tree or bush in the form of maple syrup, birch sap and fruits and berries. And the famous ‘three sisters’ triad – corn, beans and squash – delivered a vital three-powered punch of complementary proteins. With its mouth-watering flavors and straight forward preparation, Native American cuisine is in itself an attribute to the national wealth of the North American continent.

(Catherine Fredman, Shape, November1994)

Notes

1. to burst at the seams idiom – “трещать по швам”;

2. straight forward preparation – зд. приготовление продуктов, не требующее предварительной обработки.

Answer the following questions.

1. Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the text?

a) The joint exchange of Native American and European culinary knowledge resulted in Native American cuisine.

b) North America is a land of hidden wealth.

c) Europeans introduced the natives to their own cuisine.

2. What did Europeans find in North America?

3. Who introduced them to the treasures of the new land? What did they do in turn?

4. What was Native American cuisine like?

5. When was the first ‘Thanksgiving’? What was served there? What wasn’t served there? Why?

6. What are the famous ‘three sisters’?

Compare early and modern American food.

	Early American	Modern American
Similar
Different

DISCUSSION POINTS

1. These are a few statements expressing our attitude to food:

‘I only eat because I have to’

‘I am careful about what I eat’

‘Food is a great pleasure’

‘I am not particularly concerned about what I eat, as long as it is tasty’

Which of the statements best expresses your own attitude to diet? Why do you think it is right/wrong?

2. Read these quotations about food. Do all the people have the same opinion about it? Which of the quotations do you agree/disagree with?

a) ‘There is no more sincere love than the love for food.’ George Bernard Shaw.

b) ‘Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like.’ Mark Twain.

c) ‘What is food to one man is bitter poison to others.’ Lucretius.

d) ‘On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.’ George Mikes.

e) ‘If the English can survive their food, they can survive anything.’ Bernard Shaw.

f) ‘English cooking? You just put things into boiling water and then take them out again after a long while!’ An anonymous French chef.

3. According to a recent study 15 % of all adults and 10 % of all children in the USA have an overweight problem. Do Russians tend to overeat? What does overeating result in?

4. Some foreign visitors say that Russian food is rather limited. They think it is often less nutritious than food in their countries. They also say that Russian people are not particular about nutrition. Do you agree or disagree with it? Speak of some of the examples from your personal experience.

5. They say that American-style food is getting increasingly popular all over the world. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not?

TASKS FOR WRITING

Main writing form: An Expository Paragraph

An expository paragraph presents facts or directions, explains ideas, or defines terms. It is often used for writing assignments and instructions.

When giving instructions, you should explain anything that the other person might not understand, and adapt your instructions to suit your reader. It is better to give too much information than not enough. A good set of instructions avoids any misunderstanding without being too long.

Instructions are often given like commands, in the imperatives.

This is the model of a typical recipe:

Parsleyed Rice   3 cups water 100 gr butter 1 ½ cups uncooked rice 1 cup chopped parsley 1 teaspoon salt Boil some water in a heavy pan. Stir in the rice and salt. Once the water is boiling again, reduce heat to low and cover tightly. Let the rice cook, without stirring, for 25 minutes. Uncover the pan. Add the butter and parsley, without stirring, and cover the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand. After 5 minutes, uncover the pan, toss the rice with a fork to mix in the butter and parsley. Serve with Spanish-Style Chicken.

1. Write a recipe for a typically Russian home-made dish.

First decide on a suitable dish and then make notes on the following:

a) What ingredients are needed?

b) How is it made, step by step?

c) What is it served with?

2. This short description was written for a magazine but wasn’t published, because it is not at all interesting. Nor is it informative. Rewrite it, keeping to the same structure, but adding some interesting and informative details.

When you go in, you are taken to the area where one of the waiters will look after you. They are very nice and wear uniforms of an unusual colour. They take your order from the long menu which has exciting dishes from different countries. There is also a blackboard on the wall with some other things that are not on the menu. They do a very good dish with fish and some of the salads are excellent.

Before long, you are taken to your table in the well-decorated dining-room. This room is quite big; the tables are round, and the chairs are made of wood. You can hear soft music, which adds to the atmosphere, and once a week they have someone playing the piano.

At the end of the meal, many people like to drink coffee, etc., in the lounge bar, where there are a lot of plants and other exotic decorations.

When you get the bill, you’ll find it isn’t very expensive for such good food, and you’ll surely want to go again.

TASKS FOR LISTENING