Why is Borscht so important in Russian culture?

Question by Katy Killjoy: Why is Borscht important in Russian culture?
I’m making it for my class after we read Anna Karenina. I’m supposed to find out why it is significant. Thanks for your help:)

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Answer by James B’s avatar
The first of all Borscht isn’t Russian but Ukrainian and Polish meal. There are approx. 40 types of Borscht in Ukraine. The meal became popular among many Eastern and Central-European nations for several reasons.

1. If it tastes OK – than why not?

2. Similar geographic conditions (in the times of no supermarkets filled up with kiwi’s and and avocado’s the whole year) dictated similar food solutions.

3. In fact a borscht is a Slavic soup. The word “soup” was adopted from French. There were several Russian sorts of soup, but each of them ha it’s own name, like:

OKROSHKA – a cold soup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okroshka
SCCHI – a soup with sour vegetables http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shchi
UKHA – a fish soup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukha

You can read more about Russian soups here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cuisine#Soups

Ukrainian borscht is more spicy, contains more ingredients. It wasn’t meant to be a meal on the beginning of a long dinner – it was THE VERY MEAL for a peasant who had to sort all nutritional issues with THE MEAL and go on with his busy life – that’s why there are so many ingredients! The real borscht standard – to put ladle in a cattle and it has to stand straight without falling on a side. I suppose borscht was a significant enrichment of a Russian cousine.

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