Like many people, I’ve had my summer travel plans severely disturbed by COVID-19. My upcoming trip to Hungary has been canceled, and unless I want to spend fourteen days quarantined in a …

When I wrote about my recent trip to Lake Lacha, I mentioned the abundance of wild game in the area and the many alleged health benefits of consuming bear meat and bear …

Since I first wrote about Pomor cuisine here, I’ve already posted two cod recipes from the Russian Far North: a cod fish soup, and cod and potato fritters. But the Pomors aren’t …

I’ve been reading Culinaire Saisonnier, a Belgian magazine geared towards chefs, for almost fifteen years. While I don’t always have the time for their articles on regional products or their lengthy chef …

Reading my post on Arkhangelsk a couple months back, you might’ve been wondering: “What the hell is he doing in that sh**hole?” Especially for someone who’s been all over Russia dozens of …

If you’re an assiduous reader of this blog, you might remember my first recipe for ukha, the traditional Russian fish soup: a yellow perch ukha with perch fritters and perch roe croutons. …

When my partner, tasked with finding a Russian-ish dessert recipe for me for a recent quarantine weekend, unearthed a rye bread cake in Joyce Toomre’s English translation of Elena Molokhovets’ A Gift …

In my last post, I talked about my trip to the wilderness of Lake Lacha, outdoor adventures in the surrounding woods and swamps, and meals at the Kolokol tour base – burbot …

Limiting one’s trip to the Russian Far North to its major cities (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Petrozavodsk) would be a little bit like going to a beach or ski resort and never leaving your …

In my recent post on Pomor cuisine, I mentioned that the Pomors were known as “cod eaters” because they consumed codfish, in various ways, with impressive regularity. At the Arkhangelsk market, the …