March 17, 2024

A Pancake a Day...


A Pancake a Day...
Delicious, but not nutritious. The Russian Life files.

How many Russian pancakes should you eat during Maslenitsa? Probably none. But if you were going to, Izvestia has you covered.

A recent article by the state-owned news agency recommended eating only one or two blini at a time. After all, according to the article, blini are full of carbs and fat (and plenty of calories) but absent just about everything else.

Should that recommendation be too stringent, the piece does allow a cheat day: a healthy eater could have one day to indulge in as many as six or seven of the sweet snack. Of course, there's also the filling: fruit and jam are recommended over something less healthy.

Maslenitsa, or "Butter Week," is Russia's version of Shrove Tuesday, Carnival, and Mardi Gras: it marks the beginning of Lent with a celebration tinged with pagan influence but leading to Orthodox Easter. During the week, participants eat fatty and indulgent foods (like blini) that won't be permitted once Lent begins. often, Russians burn an effigy-witch to mark the end of winter and the start of spring.

Whether or not many Russians take heed of this nutritional recommendation is yet to be seen, but we're doubtful. And there is this sobering tale by Anton Chekhov, about the consequences of over-eating blini.

 

You Might Also Like

Russian Pascha
  • January 23, 2001

Russian Pascha

Easter is the most important celebration of the Russian Orthodox Church. Find out what constitutes a traditional Pascha meal and read the Patriarch's message.
A Holiday for Every Occasion
  • February 22, 2018

A Holiday for Every Occasion

Traditional celebrations like Maslenitsa are accompanied by new ones, like Chinese New Year. The party never stops!
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
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.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
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. 

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