September 18, 2020

A Russian Millennial's Path to Vinaigrette


A Russian Millennial's Path to Vinaigrette
Vinaigrette Anna Kharzeeva

This is the first of many stories about the deep connection Russians have with food. Appropriately we begin with a story about the series' author, Anna Kharzeeva. We're calling the series Food Stories.


I grew up in Russia’s turbulent 1990s, sustained by my grandmother’s borshch and pirozhki, while craving Snickers bars, "just add water" drinks of unimaginable colors, and basically all things American.

On a regular school day, I would have buckwheat with milk for breakfast (buckwheat was all right, but corn flakes were a dream!), soup, bread, or pasta at school for lunch, and later my babushka would come over with a bunch of recycled sour cream containers filled with borshch, rissoles, plov, and pickled cabbage.

She would also make vinaigrette, but it wasn’t a favorite. It didn’t have the warmth of borshch or the excitement of pirozhki. Neither was it foreign (and therefore – better than anything Russian, as I thought).

Years passed, I grew up, and I stopped craving colorful drinks. I even went to university to study history and languages. In the last year of my studies, I met my Australian husband at an expat gathering. While I was struggling to understand all the accents, one thing was clear: all these people moved to Moscow and were trying to understand the culture.

I took him on an excursion around Moscow’s center. He seemed impressed, I was proud to share. A few years later we were already married and I was writing a blog about Soviet food. 

We went to Sydney for a few weeks, and, since I had to cook and write every week, I made vinaigrette for my Australian in-laws following the instructions from the iconic Soviet cookbook, The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food. I was shy and worried they wouldn’t like it. But they loved it. “It’s a traditional Russian salad,” I said proudly, perhaps for the first time ever.

I know I should have been more proud of my heritage before that, too, but I wasn’t (for various reasons, but the vodka jokes weren’t helping either), but I was proud then and am now.

I’ve grown to realize that where I come from is troubled, complex, hard to comprehend, and often bizarre. But it’s also beautiful, and interesting, and fun. And it’s mine. And that vinaigrette is damn delicious.

Here is how I like to make it:

Vinaigrette

Винегрет

Ingredients
  • 3-4 beets
  • 2-3 potatoes
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 apple
  • 1-2 pickles or marinated cucumbers
  • 2-3 tablespoons pickled cabbage
  • 3 Tbsp sunflower oil
  • 2 Tbsp vinegar
  • 1-2 tsp mustard

Roast or boil the beets, potatoes and carrots. I like to roast them atop a layer of salt: fill a cookie sheet with salt, place the vegetables on top (toss the beets and potatoes to cover them in salt, but not the carrots; they will get too salty).

Cool and peel the vegetables, then chop them up. Traditionally vinaigrette is finely chopped, but I like bigger pieces, too.

Peel and chop up an apple. Chop up the pickles/cucumbers, and add the sauerkraut. Toss.

Dress with the oil, vinegar and mustard, and add sugar to taste. I like to add dry ground chili as well (or use chili gherkins).

Makes about 4 servings.

Enjoy!

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955