New Year's menu.

New Year's menu.

What do most people think of in anticipation of the New Year celebration? They are New Year's miracle and a holiday tableful. Even though most food is available all around the world, the cooking habits and meals are strongly influenced by the traditions and lifestyle of a particular country.

At the very beginning of New Year tradition in Russia when the New Year's celebration on the night of December 31, became countrywide due to Peter the Greats decree the balls were the highlight of the celebration, not the menu.

Russian New Year menu did not really exist till the middle of the 19th century. The meals that are traditionally considered to be the part of New Year's menu were originally prepared for Christmas celebration. The beginning of the 19trh century witnessed quite simple cuisine: even in noble families they served pickled cucumbers and mushrooms and radish salad as a part of New Year's menu. It also included roast piglet, fricandeau, fried Poularde, trout boiled in wine, cream soup with ruffs (tel'noe iz ershej"). By the way the fruit, like apricots, oranges, grapes, peas were also available, as there was a fashion for green houses in Moscow and St-Petersburg where and fruit grew in winter successfully.

Close to the end of the 19th century, the New Years menu included salmon, tittlebat and vendace. Different sorts of cheese appeared. Trout and watermelons gained popularity and the poultry successfully competed with roast piglet on the New Years table.

This was the time for various beverages, ice-cream and cognacs. At the end of the 19th century and beginning the 20th Russians became widely acquainted with French, Spanish, Italian and German wines and managed to imitate champagne with Don sparkling wines. They surely did not miss vodka, home wine and liqueurs, home-brew and German beer. Such exotic food as sardine, lobsters, anchovy appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. Roast goose stuffed with apples was a must, yet turkey and hazel grouse sometimes replaced it the New Year's menu.

After the October Revolution the New Year celebration was abolished, however still celebrated in families. The abolishment made a fatal impact on the holiday though. The main requirement was to keep the celebration quiet, so this must be a start of the Russian habit to celebrate the New Year's Eve at the holiday table.

The holidays dances and New Year Yolka (New Year tree) was rehabilitated in 1936, however the "table" tradition remained. The menu was quite modest and even sliced sausage could become a good garnish of the New Year table.

In the 40 th the typical New Year's menu included: vodka, mashed potatoes and picked herrings, garnished with sliced onion.

The menu improved in the 50th and New Year's celebration was no longer obnoxious behaviour so Russians could not only stay at home for a celebration, but go out and invite gests. This was the time for famous Seld' Pod Shuboj, broth jelly, and Baltic canned sprats, a real delicatessen of the Soviet times. This was the time when Olivie salad enjoyed its popularity for the second time, however it was cooked with "Doktorskaya" sausage instead of hazel grouse meat. The salad cooked in a great abundance in a big bowl and dressed with mayonnaise. A bottle of "Sovetskoe shampanskoe" (Soviet champagne) was the eternal attribute of the holiday.

Since the holiday was mainly celebrated at home, the small apartments did not offer much choice: you could either eat or dance. When the television sets appeared in each family, table celebration won it's firm place in the New Year's program.

The stereotypes are crashing with the times though and many Russians prefer different style and menu for the New Years, but some basic things, like Olivie salad and champagne remain the symbol of the holiday and a part of the history already.

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