So, Honey, Where Was That Cake?

I

t is hard to overestimate the role of honey in Russian culture generally and Russian cuisine in particular. The Russian word for honey, myod, is the same word used for mead, the first alcoholic brew in old Rus’. 

In past issues of Russian Life, in our Survival Russian column, we have written on the honeymoon (ωӂ˚È ÏÂÒflˆ—myedovy mesyats) and the delicious cold honey drink (ωӂÛı‡—myedovukha). And of course there is that cliché ending to Russian fairy tales: “... And I was there, drank honey [mead] and beer, down my mustache it flowed, but it never got into my mouth.”