Russian Far East cuisine

With a visit to Russian Far East Cuisine we arrive to the end of our journey through Russian cuisine. More than just a description of dishes and ways of cooking, it is a series of posts that shows us how Russian society is made up with union of different races, traditions and cultures.

As the name of the region indicates, this region is located in the farthest part of Russia, with borders reaching as far as China, Korea, Japan.

Russian Far East Cuisine: Pyang-se, Hyo, and Seaweed Borsch

None of the traditional cuisines of Russia had such an abundance of seafood as in the cuisine of the Far East. On the Pacific coast, not only numerous varieties of fish and caviar were used as food, but also crabs, squid, octopus, scallops.

The first Russian settlers borrowed recipes from the indigenous peoples of the Far East – Nivkhs, Udeges, Evenks. They learned how to prepare dried “sitmi” fish, which they ate with lingonberries and wild garlic, fire-roasted deer and other kinds of meat, and salted edible bracken shoots for the winter.

At the end of the 19th century, peasants from the ukrainian provinces settled in the Far East. They kept the recipes of their traditional cuisine, but make changes to adapt them to the new living conditions. This is how the algae “borsch” appeared, the fish soup with salmon; “pelmeni” with squid and other unusual dishes for the rest of Russia.

The culinary traditions of Primorye were also influenced by the cuisine of neighboring countries – China, Korea, Japan.

The most popular dishes in the Far East were Korean “hyo” fish marinated in vinegar, Japanese “yakitori” chicken skewers and Korean “pyang-se” cakes cooked in a steam bath.