Celebration On The Table

2023 Author: Jessica James | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-03 16:09

BeautyHack columnist Tatyana Yakimova talks about why “eating less is better” and how to replace the usual New Year's dishes with healthy new ones.

Gluttony on New Year's holidays - a tradition inscribed in the subcortex of a Russian person, or archaism? I'm sure the second one. But if you change "gluttony" for "culinary delights" - it will be right.

I have a familiar married couple, very pretty. Several times I ate with pleasure in their cozy house: my husband made kebabs, his wife made salads, the table is always full of greens, homemade lemonade. On holidays they gathered in warm countries and in advance invited me to "remember the old year." It's a good thing. I grabbed a couple of cans of homemade sauces, a bottle of prosecco, gifts and came.

And she was dumbfounded.

It was the canonical "table full of food".

Although it’s hard to scare me, I went through an Abkhaz memorial service, a Georgian wedding, a Chinese New Year with 12 different dishes and dinners at my beloved aunt, where, among seven snacks, two would easily replace the main boyudo.

I happened to eat a Moravian wedding dish alone (who does not know - this is a huge dish with a lamb saddle, half a goose and a pork knuckle surrounded by dumplings) and much more, but here …

On the huge table, cluttered with plates with varied contents, everything was "over": salted, overcooked, over-marinated, over-smoked, over-abundant.

I'm not a fan of store-bought smoked meats at all. Occasionally, to remember the taste of the favorite sausage from childhood. I love hand made smoked fish! A neighbor catches trout for every birthday and Tatiana's day, smokes it himself and gives it back hot. I pull greedy hands over the fence, inhale the scent, mumble a hundred thanks, and run home to eat a little bite before it gets cold. Or two small pieces. It's delicious. The fish from the farm store is not bad, but … Why eat that which is not bad? You need something that is very good!

I don’t buy canned meat, fish and vegetables either. Especially fish ones in tomato sauce. Or vegetables in the marinade (it is not known what they poured into this marinade - it's easier and more useful to do it yourself). And meat - any.

And then there were smoked chicken, and Brunswick sausage, and pickled cucumbers from the store, and sprats, and tomatoes in their own juice - a shortage of the 80s. And also meat with mayonnaise, fried pork medallions and pasta with salmon with creamy sauce. And Olivier with a "fur coat", of course. And a cake with cream roses.

Ohhhhhh.

I quickly looked for fresh vegetables and put them on a plate in large quantities - so that there was almost no room left.

I tried the fried meat and thanked. I didn't praise because I don't like being hypocritical.

I tried pasta with a fat sauce according to the same scheme.

One sprat, a circle of Brunswick sausage, a piece of sturgeon, a spoonful of salad.

She refused the cake. The hostess persuaded and persuaded, in the end I asked to go with me.

Better than sitting with the feeling that you have a thermonuclear brick in your stomach. (I had a cake after pasta in my life - nothing good, even in terms of taste).

True, the conversation was still interesting, because people are very good, and it is a pleasure to communicate with them.

It was possible, of course, to explain to them that it is better to undersalt the meat than to oversalt. And store canned food exists for force majeure, not a holiday. And Olivier shouldn't float in mayonnaise. And when such a Olivier with such meat meets over-smoked chicken wings and tomatoes in vinegar, this is a hellish meeting of acid, toxins, preservatives and fat. But to do it at that moment, as they hospitably treated me, was at least tactless. Would ruin the evening, that's all.

This is how they live, these people. They have such ideas about the holiday.

Leaving, I suddenly remembered that 20 years ago there were much more such feasts. Nine out of ten. Or 99 out of a hundred.

But today a lot has changed, so I was not ready for such a table.

But I already know what to do when they return! I will propose to break the stereotypes and start eating "less is better" - in the new year with new delicious recipes. Let the traditional "Olivier" be with homemade mayonnaise and boiled frozen peas - no preservatives. We will make the salted herring ourselves, and the boiled pork ourselves, with carrots, garlic, turmeric and paprika. Let's try some delicious celery recipes. Beets in mustard, honey and ginger sauce. Jerusalem artichoke with truffle oil. (And not with pans, God forbid). And herbs, herbs are spicy. What a holiday without greenery?

Although "Olivier" can be canceled.

Let's make arugula with crabs.