Belarussians are used to eating 3 times a day.

Belarussians are used to eating 3 times a day.

ZAVTRAK - breakfast is usually a quick meal in the working week. Parents are likely to have an open sandwich with cheese, ham or salami with a cup of tea. The children tend to eat a cooked meal that consists of a boiled egg, omlette or kasha. Kasha is any cooked grain or cereal (e.g.buckwheat) that is served with milk, sugar and butter.

OBED - lunch is the main meal of the day and is eaten between 1pm and 3pm. Obed starts with a small zakuska (salt herring or some king of salad). It is followed by soup that is made from a homemade stock. If it is a chicken soup then a whole chicken will be put into the pot, if it is meat soup than a chunk of beef is simmered for two to four hours with vegetables, and is eaten with fresh vegetables, dried peas or beans, pats, rice or barley. The favourite soups are cabbage soup, Shchi, and Ukrainian beetroot soup, Borshch. After soup the main course follows. Fish is a popular food and Belarussians prefer freshwater fish like carp and pike. If meat stews are eaten then they have flavourings of wild mushroom, pickled cucumber or smetana. Cabbage leaves, Golubtsy, are stuffed with meat and rice in a tomato sauce. Sosiski are frankfurter-type sausages and are also very popular. Meatball dishes are Kotleti, Bitochki, and Tefteli. The main course is served with potatoes, pasta, cereal, salt cucumbers, and are always served with bread.

Obed is finished with either coffee, tea, kompot (stewed fruit) or kisel (fruit juice thickened with cornflour).

UZHIN - is eaten with the family around the table and news is exchanged. Soup can be served again and the main course can be from vegetables like potato cakes with mushroom sauce or tvorog, cottage cheese. Tea or milk follows.

Food in Daily Life. Belarusian eating habits are not very different from those of people in other Eastern European cultures. They usually have three main daily meals, and staples include red meat and potatoes. Belarusians are also very fond of spending their free time in the woods searching for the many types of mushrooms that are used in soups and other dishes.

Belarusian cuisine

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, it is served together with mushrooms, meat; different pirazhki (patties) and baked puddings are made from it. The most popular among the Belarusians are traditional draniki, 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.

A lot of place in the diet of the Belarusians belongs to meat and meat products, 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.

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 choice Belarusian food are fresh, dried, salted and pickled mushrooms, and also berries such as bilberry, wild strawberries, red whortlberry, raspberries, cranberry and some others.

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, beer are traditional Belarusian drinks.

Among the popular Belarus cuisine dishes are draniki (potato pancakes that can be stuffed with caviar, mushrooms, carrot, etc), borsch (hot beetroot soup), and kholodnik (cold beetroot soup) the latter being normally served with potato puree. Apart from draniki, babka is also popular with different fillings.

Machanka is a soup that is cooked from multiple ingredients – different types of meat, vegetables, flour and water. Cutlets in Belarusian cuisine can be made of meat, fish, mushrooms and there are several kinds of these, too.

Meals in Belarus are traditionally cooked from fresh food, people grow or still easily buy at local markets and cook regularly at home which makes the general diet healthy. However the growing problem of today's society is that Belarus like many countries, have grown accustomed to Western foods, such as fast food and soda and are abandoning healthier foods in favour of cheaper calorie-rich snacks.

Belarusian recipes

Belarus food is warming and relatively easy to prepare. Here are a few popular Belarusian recipes:

Borshch

Ingredients: 20ml oil, 300g beef or lamb, 1 small chopped onion, 2 litres beef stock, 2ml lemon juice, 500g tomatoes, 400g shredded cabbage, 600g diced beetroot, 300g sour cream, chopped dill, salt and pepper

Method:

1. Brown the meat and onion in the oil.

2. Add the stock, and all other ingredients except the sour cream, dill and seasoning.

3. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours.

4. Season to taste and serve with sour cream and dill.

Draniki

Ingredients: 6 potatoes,1 egg, 2 table spoons flour, 1 onion, salt, pepper, oil

Method:

1. Peel, wash and grate the potatoes, and peel and chop the onion. Mix potatoes and onion.

2. Add the egg, flour and salt, and stir well until it become combined.

3. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and add potato mixture with a table spoon in the form of small flat cakes. Fry draniki on one side for about 2–3 minutes until it has a golden brown crust. Then turn the draniki over and fry for a further 1–2 minutes.

4. Serve with main dishes and sour cream.

Machanka

Ingredients: 500g pork, 300ml beef stock, 40g butter, 1 onion, 25g flour, 200ml sour cream, spices and salt to taste

Method:

1. Brown the pork until crisp, add the stock and season.

2. Cook on the hob for 20 minutes.

3. In a separate saucepan, sauté the flour for a couple of minutes. Add 2 spoonfuls of stock and stir. Add sour cream and season and cook over a low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Fry the onion and add to the pork.

5. Pour the mixture into an oven dish and add the sour cream.

6. Cook at 175ºC (350ºF) for 20 minutes.

7. Serve in the pot, with pancakes for dipping.

Healthy food

In today`s world people are searching for effective means of keeping fit and healthy. Everyone wants to look good and feel good. Many people feel guilty about eating too much and they do not always know what is good or bad for them.

All food is made up of nutrients which our bodies use. Different foods contain different nutrients.

That`s why it`s absolutely necessary to have a balanced diet. We need vitamins and proteins to stay healthy. Many people and children know that such products as Coke, crisps, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizzas and ice-creams don`t contain any vitamins. On the other hand, fruit and vegetables are full of them. Each vitamin is responsible for different things in the human body.

For some people food is a source of pleasure, for others - a source of energy. For me food is a pleasant source of energy. I think that healthy food is pleasant food. To my mind healthy food should be quite simple. I eat complicated dishes only in restaurants. My daily meals consist of the same dishes every day.

First of all I do not eat much animal meat. I prefer fish and other sea products. So in the morning I usually have some cottage cheese with kefir, then I have tea with two sandwiches. At dinner I have vegetable soup, a salad and fried fish. I do not have desserts, but only tea with lemon and sugar. For supper I have just a salad and then I eat fruit.

So I love all kinds of milk products, especially kefir, cheese. I prefer cheeses from Russia and Germany. I like different kinds of salads, dressed with olive oil or sour cream. I also love all kinds of potato dishes. I usually drink water or natural juices. Also I prefer to have tea with bitter chocolate or home-made jams. As I do not change my daily dishes, I very seldom have stomach problems. Actually I think that the simpler food the better its taste.

Finally, there are three main messages to follow for healthy eating:

First, we should eat less fat.

Secondly, we are to cut down on sugar and salt.

Thirdly, we must eat more fresh fruit and vegetables

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04