Russia on Borscht
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“One could understand and forgive foreigners for calling borscht or varenyky Russian national dishes, but when it turns out that they gleaned this information from Soviet cookbooks or from restaurant menus, one is embarrassed for our authors and chefs, who popularize the national cuisines of our peoples [i.e., the various ethnic groups of the Soviet Union] with such ignorance.”
“Nikanor Ivanovich poured himself a glass of vodka, drank it down, poured another, drank that down, picked up three pieces of herring with his fork... And at that moment the doorbell rang and Pelageya Antonovna brought in a steaming pot, one glance at which was enough to guess that the pot contained, in the very thick of the piping hot borscht, the most delicious thing in the world – a marrow bone.”