Mordovian cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the
Mordovians, who now live in
Mordovia
Mordovia ( ),; Moksha language, Moksha and officially the Republic of Mordovia,; ; is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of S ...
and surrounding areas. It consists of a variety of dishes, based on geographical, cultural and climate features of the region, with fish traditionally featured heavily.
Fish
Volga Finns
The Volga Finns are a historical group of peoples living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the Moksha (commonly grouped together as Mordvins) as well as ...
settled on the riversides, in places convenient for fishing.
Traditionally Mordovians pay a great attention to the support of nature.
[ Fish dishes varied by the type of cooking; fish was eaten raw, frozen, dried, salty, and boiled.][ Fish liver, fish eggs, milt, cod-liver oil were used as cooking ingredients.][
]
Meat
Meat and poultry was stewed, baked and boiled.[ There were no fried meat dishes in Finno-Ugric cuisine, only roasted dishes which also were borrowed from Tatar cuisine in the 19th century.][ Beef, mutton and pork were preserved in several ways.][ Pre-boiled meat was dried in an oven or under the sun.][ Fat from broth was collected and used for cooking. Meat was also frozen for preservation.][
In ancient times, horsemeat was used for food, but later it was used only in rituals (''molyam'') associated with ]horse worship
Horse worship is a spiritual practice with archaeological evidence of its existence during the Iron Age and, in some places, as far back as the Bronze Age. The horse was seen as divine, as a sacred animal associated with a particular deity, or as ...
.[
]
Herbs and vegetables
Many farms grew cabbage
Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...
, cucumbers
The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.[potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...]
es, garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...
, carrot
The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...
s, bean
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...
s, beet
The beetroot (British English) or beet (North American English) is the taproot portion of a '' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'' plant in the Conditiva Group. The plant is a root vegetable also known as the table beet, garden beet, dinner ...
s, turnip
The turnip or white turnip ('' Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties a ...
s, radish
The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...
es, and pumpkin
A pumpkin is a cultivar, cultivated winter squash in the genus ''Cucurbita''. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many dif ...
s.[ In summer and autumn, a great deal of fruit were eaten fresh.][ Pickled cucumbers were used for preparing dishes. Beets and pumpkins were eaten steamed as a dessert.][ ''Shschi'' (cabbage soup) was a traditional soup consisting of cabbage and potatoes cooked in chicken broth with onions and carrots added at the end. Herbs such as ]watercress
Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae.
Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...
, horseradish
Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes Mustard plant, mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and us ...
, onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...
, cow parsnip, horsetail
''Equisetum'' (; horsetail) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass Equisetidae, which ...
, nettle
Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus '' Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" include:
* ball nettle ...
, and wild goutweed were used for preparing dishes instead of spices.[
]
Mushrooms
Mushrooms
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
were one of the main ingredients in traditional dishes. They were boiled, salted, fried, soured and dried.[
]
Grains
Grains had a special place in Mordovian cuisine.[ ]Finno-Ugric peoples
Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th century ...
mostly used wheat, barley, spelt and rye (black cereal).[ Ritual meals in Mordovia were associated with agricultural period, family and public holidays.][ For example, millet porridge was not only a delicious meal on weddings. christenings, funerals, but also there was a special ritual ''baba's porridge'' (female porridge) made at the last day of a bride at home.][
]
Bliny (pancakes)
Bliny (pancakes
A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat type of batter bread like cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based Batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a ...
)Mordovian Pancakes (in Russian), (as of June 16, 2012)
/ref> were a favorite dish of Mordovians.[ They were called ''pachat'' and were made from rye, wheat, millet and pea flour.][ Traditionally Mordovians liked the pancakes to be rather thick and added boiled potatoes into the dough.][ Such pancakes were served with milk and honey.][
]
References
External links
Mordovian national cuisine (Elite life Tatar materials)
{{Cuisine
Mordovian culture
Russian cuisine