By Hajarah Nalwadda
Courtesy /WYF Photos
On March 2, 2024, the gastronomic festival “Russia’s Taste”; was held at the World Youth Festival (WYF) in Sirius. In just one day, a team of chefs from all over Russia prepared more than 10,000 portions of dishes and demonstrated the gastronomic diversity of Russian cuisine. Guests from all over the world managed to taste Kalmyk “beryogs”, Buryat “buuzes” and even black pelmeni (dumplings) with venison.
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Russia’s Taste Festival has demonstrated the gastronomic diversity and achievements of 89 regions of our country — from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. The festival was held within “The Gastronomic Map of Russia” project, implemented jointly with the Tavrida art cluster and supported by the Presidential Foundation for Culture Initiatives. Ekaterina Shapovalova, the author and head of the project “The Gastronomic map of Russia”, hosted the show.
The project’s goal is to demonstrate how the generosity and diversity of the Russian soul are reflected in all aspects, with a particular emphasis on the national cuisine.
At the gastronomic festival site, national dishes from every federal district were showcased, with over 150 chefs collaborating on the festival menu. Their aim was to not only introduce renowned Russian dishes but also present the authentic cuisine of the country’s small indigenous communities to the guests.
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The international visitors at the culinary festival sampled Buryat buuzes, Ossetian pies, chudu with various fillings, and other authentic dishes from Russian regional cuisine.
The foreign “degustators” were particularly impressed by the traditional Udmurt perepechi and perlov – a northern pilaf dish made with venison and red bilberries.
The central event of the festival was the gastro-cultural performance- installation “The Main Table of Russia” with the participation of the heads of the regions.
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The guests and participants of the festival all gathered at the “Main Table” of the country, where they tasted the cuisines of the peoples living all over Russia from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, and got acquainted with the national ritual and table features.
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The Main Table of Russia, in addition to the multinational gastronomic diversity, reflected in its design the cultural and regional identity of each participating region featuring their folk crafts, decorative arts, table items and decorations with regional symbols.
During the festival, the attendees had the opportunity to not only taste various dishes but also gain knowledge about the diverse gastronomic culture of Russia. This was made possible through the educational lyceum called “Learning the culinary language of Russia”, where renowned chefs, producers, and historians of Russian cuisine conducted culinary master classes, lectures, and gastronomic presentations.
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The subsequent days of the World Youth Festival, attendees will have the opportunity to further explore the culinary wonders of Russia.
Russia’s Taste gastronomic space will host the farmers; market “Feast for the World” sponsored by the Russian Agricultural Bank.
Participants will enjoy the opportunity to buy some honey, cheese, pickles or spices and take home to their countries and regions these gastronomic souvenirs.
The World Youth Festival is taking place on the federal territory of Sirius from March 1st to 7th, 2024 in accordance with the Decree of the Russian President Vladimir Putin aiming at developing international youth cooperation.
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The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) are organizing the World Youth Festival, with the Directorate of the World Youth Festival acting as its operator.
Tavrida art cluster provides the content for the event thus presenting within the festival program a series of projects that demonstrate the achievements of youth art in modern Russia.