Belarusian cuisine

[Andrey_BY]

We used to pick them up along with other wild forest berries like cranberries and some less known and make compot, confiture or jam. Other people pick wild berries to sell them and earn some money... This is almost the only job in a Belarusian country-side...

[svalli]

I did not know that they are also called as cowberries; I have seen an English name being lingonberry. These berries grow all around Finland and we have them growing alongside with wild blueberries by our lake cabin.

I love picking wild berries and can’t wait next summer, when I can go picking wild raspberries, cloudberries, blueberries and cowberries. Finland has something called everyman’s right and that gives everyone permission to go to anyone’s forest to pick wild berries. You can not pick berries on people’s yards and gardens, but it is OK to go to a forest as long as you do not harm the trees or other plants.

[Andrey_BY]

svalli, here we have the same right to go to pick any kind of berries or mushrooms or everything you want to any forest. It is the same right for the whole Eastern Europe.

[gardenpaws_VA]

Andrey, thanks for posting this. I also will need to print it out for reference, but there seem to be many tasty dishes included. I miss foods from that part of the world - there's lots of Asian and African food available here in the Washington area, but try to find anything from Central or Eastern Europe and you're pretty much out of luck.

Robin

[Andrey_BY]

Robin,
yes, our traditional food is not so spicy vs. Asian (Orienthal) dishes. But I believe there are many special small grocery stores in USA with Russian and Ukrainian food, for example. And you can easily make real Borshch and other dishes by yourself! There is only one missing point - you won't be able to find the real smetana (sour cream with 20-30% fat as we have it here) to add to make a great tasted Borshch...