Belarusian National Cuisine

11. Belarusian national cuisine.

1. Let’s talk about Belarusian national cuisine. What can you tell me about eating habits in Belarus?

Food is obviously a very important part of peoples’ culture and if you want to understand the nation it is important to try national food.

Belarusian cuisine consists mostly of vegetables, meats and breads. The foods that are considered to be staples of Belarus include pork, cabbages, potatoes and bread. Traditional cooking methods are usually either slowly cooked or stewed food.

But the most popular Belarusian dish is draniki with machanka. Machanka is used as a traditional Belarusian sauce for draniki or blini. Most often it is made with pork, sausage, sliced onion, sour cream and flour. 

Kvass is a type of soft drink that is made from either brown bread or rye flour that has been malted. Kvass can also be combined with sliced vegetables to create a cold soup called okroshka.

I think all these dishes will be rather tasty and unusual for a tourist.

2. Do you like cooking? Why (not)?

Maybe, yes. But it doesn’t happen very often because I’m very busy now. If I have a chance to spend time cooking I prefer to cook some special and tasty things: pizza, pancakes , stuffed cabbage, chops, roast chicken, hot pot (тушёное мясо с картофелем, овощами), biscuits and what not.

3. What questions will you ask a friend who has invited you to a pot-luck party?

I have never been to a potluck party. It’s probably amazing. Of course I will have to find out some things beforehand:

• What is the theme of your potluck party?
• How many people have you invited to the party?
• Are you going to make a list of dishes?

4. Which cafes would you recommend to visit in your place? Why?

A very popular pastime is eating out in a restaurant or a café. In most towns there is a wide variety of restaurants, a number of bars and cafes where you can get sandwiches and other snacks. Our town is quite small, though you may go to the center and walk along a central street. You will see a few cafes. It will be up to your taste what to choose.

5. What is your favourite Belarusian national dish? What is its recipe?

I like traditional Belarusian potato pancakes , or draniki.

Draniki is made of grated potatoes. It is a traditional Belarusian dish still very popular in present day Belarus. There are many variations of this simple recipe, I can tell you one of them.

You need 5 large potatoes;1 egg; 1 onion; half teaspoon of black pepper; some salt; 7-8 tablespoons of sunflower oil.

First of all you peel potatoes and onion. Then you need to grate potatoes and cut onions and put them into a bowl. Add salt, pepper, and an egg and mix together. The substance should not be liquid, and should not be too thick. Heat the frying pan, pour 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil onto it.

Dump a full table spoon of mixture form the bowl onto the frying pan and cook for 2-3 minutes and then flip over.

Cook another 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

Serve hot with sour cream.

Enjoy your meal!