What did our ancestors eat? Nutrition of primitive man

The food of our commoner ancestors was quite simple. They used to eat bread, garlic, eggs, salt, drink kvass.

Russian cuisine for everyone obeyed custom, not art.

Despite the fact that the rich had a variety of dishes, they were rather monotonous. The wealthy even made a gastronomic calendar for the whole year, taking into account church holidays, meat-eaters and fasts.

In addition, everyone cooked soup, porridge, oatmeal at home. Soup with a piece of bacon or beef was a favorite dish at court.

Russians revered good bread, fresh and salted fish, eggs, vegetables from the garden (cabbage, cucumbers, turnips, onions, garlic). All food was divided into lean and modest, and depending on the products that were used to prepare a particular dish, all food could be divided into mealy, dairy, meat, fish, vegetable.

Bread.

They mostly ate rye bread. Although Russians learned rye much later than wheat. And she appeared on the soil by accident - like a weed. But this weed turned out to be surprisingly tenacious. While wheat perished from frost, rye withstood the test of cold and saved people from starvation. It is no coincidence that by the 11th-12th centuries the Russians ate mainly rye bread. Sometimes barley flour was mixed with rye flour, but not often, since barley was rarely bred in Russia.

When there was not enough stock of rye and wheat, carrots, beets, potatoes, nettles, and quinoa were added to the bread. And sometimes the peasants were forced to cook salamata - fried wheat flour, brewed with boiling water.

Pure rye bread was called rich.

Baked from seed flour pecked bread, or sieve.

From flour sifted through a sieve, baked sieve bread.

Wholemeal flour was used to make fluffy types of bread ("chaff").

Considered the best bread gritty- white bread made from well-processed wheat flour.

Wheat flour was used mainly for prosphora and kalachi (holiday food of commoners).

Bread from unleavened dough was made very rarely, mainly it was prepared from yeast, sour dough.

Due to the fact that our ancestors learned how to brew flour, they made bread that did not go stale for a long time.

It was difficult to make yeast on your own, so they put the dough on the "head" - the rest of the dough from the last baking.

Bread was usually baked for a whole week.

Bread round, high, lush, highly porous was called a loaf. Pies and buns without filling round and elliptical shape - loaves.

Kalachi enjoyed special love, they also baked saiki and pies.

Pies.

They were very famous in Rus' - spun and hearth. In fast days, they were stuffed with meat, and even with several types of meat at the same time; on Shrovetide baked pies with cottage cheese and eggs in milk, butter, with fish and eggs; on fast fish days - pies with fish.

On fast days, instead of butter and lard, lean (vegetable) oil was added to the dough and pies were served with molasses, sugar and honey.

Porridge.

Although in ancient Rus' any dishes made from ground products were called porridge, food made from cereals is traditionally considered porridge.

Kasha had ritual significance. In addition to the usual, everyday porridge and festive, there was a ritual - kutya. It was brewed from whole grains of wheat, barley, spelt, and later from rice. Raisins, honey, poppy seeds were added to kutia. As a rule, they prepared kutya for the New Year, at Christmas and at commemorations.

In ancient times, a large number of varieties of cereals were known. Sochivo - porridge made from crushed grain - was cooked on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Eve. Kulesh - liquid wheat porridge - was often cooked in the south of Rus' with potatoes, seasoned with onions fried with lard or in vegetable oil. Barley porridge - made from barley - was very fond of in the Urals and Siberia. "Thick" porridge was prepared from pearl barley. Zavarukha is a special kind of porridge, which was brewed with boiling water.

vegetable dishes. Vegetables used to be revered more as a spicy seasoning for food than as an independent dish. This is obviously due to the fact that the favorite food of the Russian people were onions and garlic. very respected in Rus' "crushed" onion with salt, which was eaten with bread and kvass for breakfast.

Turnip is a native Russian vegetable. Chroniclers mention it along with rye. Before the appearance of the potato, it was the main vegetable on the table. One of the most common dishes was turnip stew - repnitsa and turnip lads.

Cabbage also took root well on the table of our ancestors. Stocks were made from it for the winter - everywhere in the fall it was chopped. They fermented not only chopped cabbage, but also whole heads of cabbage.

The taste of potatoes - the second bread - was learned in Rus' late - in the 18th century. But these "earth apples" very quickly conquered the table of the Russian people, displacing turnips unreasonably.

Willy-nilly, people became staunch vegetarians during fasts. They ate sauerkraut, beets with vegetable oil and vinegar, pies with peas, onions, mushrooms, various dishes of peas, horseradish, radish.

Herbal Dishes. Nettle soup, quinoa cutlets were prepared not only when hunger was pressing. In the past, a mixture of thistle leaves, sorrel, and onions was also used in cooking. Ate and duckweed, adding butter and horseradish. And for cabbage soup, hogweed, wild sorrel, hare cabbage, oxalis, and other wild plants were suitable.

Bay leaf, ginger, cinnamon used to be replaced by calamus.

Angelica, St. John's wort, mint, lovage, lemon balm, saffron were used as seasonings.

Teas were infused from Ivan-tea, oregano, linden blossom, mint, lingonberry leaves.

Quick meals.

As a meat-eater, Russian people allowed themselves to taste meat food, fish dishes, cottage cheese, and milk. However, little is known about traditional fast Russian dishes. Moreover, there were some prohibitions on mixing products. Therefore, you will not find minced meat, rolls, pates, cutlets in the original Russian cuisine.

Fish was considered a semi-lenten dish. It was not allowed to eat it only on days of especially strict fasting. However, for herring and roach, even these days an exception was made. But on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, fish dishes formed the basis of the menu.

Milk played a significant role. However, in poor families, only the smallest children were allowed to drink milk, and adults ate it with bread.

Oil.

After the adoption of Christianity, it was customary for Russians to divide all types of edible oils into modest (animal) and lean (vegetable). Vegetable oil was especially valued by the people, as it could be eaten both on fasting and fasting days. In the northern regions, they preferred linen, in the southern regions - hemp. But such oils as walnut, poppy, mustard, sesame, pumpkin were also known. Sunflower oil became widespread only in the 19th century.

Vegetable oil was widely used in Russian cuisine. Various dishes (cereals, snacks, soups) were seasoned with it, cakes were dipped in it. Usually eaten without prior heat treatment.

969th - Prince Svyatoslav says that the city of Pereyaslavl is conveniently located - "various vegetables" from Greece and honey from Russia converge there. Already at that time, the table of Russian princes and rich people was decorated with salted lemons, raisins, walnuts and other gifts from Eastern countries, and honey was not only an everyday food product, but also an object of foreign trade.
Year 971 - during the famine, the high cost was such that a horse's head cost half a hryvnia (insanely expensive!). It is interesting that the chronicler does not speak about beef, not about pork, but about horse meat. Although the case takes place during the forced wintering of the troops of Prince Svyatoslav on the way from Greece, the fact is still remarkable. This means that there was no ban on eating horse meat in Rus', but they used it, probably, in exceptional cases. This is also evidenced by the relatively small proportion of horse bones in kitchen waste found by archaeologists.
Usually, to characterize, as we would now say "price index", the cost of products of daily demand is indicated. So, another chronicler reports that in the lean year of 1215 in Novgorod "there was a cartload of turnips for two hryvnias."
Year 996 - a feast is described, at which there was a lot of meat from cattle and animals, and bread, meat, fish, vegetables, honey and kvass were taken around the city and distributed to the people. The squad grumbled that she had to eat with wooden spoons, and Prince Vladimir ordered to give them silver ones.
Of course, they did not distribute turnips and cabbage to the people, but simply at that time they did not distinguish between vegetables and fruits, honey and kvass were favorite drinks.
Year 997 - the prince ordered to collect a handful of oats, or wheat, or bran, and ordered the wives to make "cezh" and cook jelly. This is a direct culinary recommendation.
So, bit by bit, you can collect in our chronicles a lot of interesting information about nutrition in the 10th-11th centuries. Describing the simplicity of the manners of Prince Svyatoslav (964), the chronicler says that the prince did not take wagons with him on campaigns and did not cook meat, but thinly sliced ​​horse meat, beef or beast, ate them, baked on coals.

Charcoal roasting is the oldest method of heat treatment, characteristic of all peoples, and it was not borrowed by the Russians from the peoples of the Caucasus and the East, but was used from ancient times. In historical literary monuments of the 15th-16th centuries, chickens, geese, and hares are often mentioned “spinned”, that is, on a spit. But still, the usual, most common way of preparing meat dishes was boiling and frying in large pieces in Russian ovens.
Of course, only by comparing the materials of the chronicles with archaeological data, with folk epos and other sources, one can imagine the life of our ancestors in the 9th - 10th centuries.
After all, the chroniclers were also living people who had their own convictions, sympathies, and, finally, to some extent they were censored.
It is necessary to be critical of such, for example, the statements of the chronicler-polyan: "But the Drevlyans live in a bestial way, living as a beast: they kill each other, everything is unclean to poison ...". The fact is that many Slavic tribes, long after the adoption of Christianity, retained many pagan rites and customs in their everyday life, causing the wrath of their more orthodox neighbors. Remember that the Vyatichi, one hundred and twenty-five years after the baptism of Rus', killed a missionary of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Despite the above statement of the chronicler about the “bestial way of life”, “Vyatichi, Drevlyans, Radimichi, Northerners and all the Proto-Russian peoples, as science testifies, ate about the same thing that we eat now - meat, poultry and fish, vegetables , fruits and berries, eggs, cottage cheese and porridge, flavoring dishes with oil, anise, dill, vinegar and eating bread in the form of carpets, kalachi, loaves, pies. They didn’t know tea and vodka, but they knew how to make intoxicating honey, beer and kvass ”(V. Chivilikhin. Memory. M .: Soviet writer, 1982).
Let's try to restore some ancient dishes.
Turnip Dishes.
It is no coincidence that turnips are mentioned many times in the annals. Once it was the most common vegetable in Rus', and turnip crop failure was the same national disaster as the invasion of enemies or the plague. Therefore, along with the major events, the chronicler reports that in one of the years, "the worms on the turnips ate the leaves."
Some vegetables came to us from overseas countries relatively recently (potatoes and tomatoes), and some have been grown in Rus' since time immemorial. Among such ancient vegetables, first of all, turnips and cabbage should be mentioned. If we hold a competition for a vegetable crop that is most often found in Russian folklore, then turnips will probably take the first place. It appears in many fairy tales, sayings, proverbs and riddles. Meanwhile, turnips now play a very modest role in our diet. Otherwise it was in the old days. Steamed turnip (repnya) was one of the most popular everyday dishes of the Russian table.
Turnips have been cultivated for a very long time, and during fire farming, when forests were burned for arable land and vegetable gardens, turnips gave excellent yields and were one of the main crops. Much later, a hybrid of turnips and cabbages, rutabaga, became widespread in our country.
In the 18th century, when the potato was most widespread, the turnip lost its former importance, but the swede still occupied an important place in the diet. The reason for this is that its roots are larger, they contain more nutrients than turnips, and vitamin C is more stable during cooking. And although now these vegetables are used little, they should not disappear from our diet, as they contain essential oils and glucosides, which give the dishes a peculiar taste and aroma, vitamins, valuable minerals and trace elements. It is very important that the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in these vegetables is close to 1:1, while the optimal ratio is no more than 1:1.5. Sinegrin glucoside gives turnips and rutabaga a specific bitter taste. This substance is found in all cruciferous plants (cabbage, mustard, horseradish, radish, radish, etc.) and is a strong bactericidal agent. Especially a lot of it in horseradish and radish. Here are a few recipes for dishes from these now little popular vegetables that can diversify our diet.

Turnip or swede salad.
Chop the vegetables on a coarse grater, add chopped green onions, salt, pepper, pour over with mayonnaise or dressing and mix. Turnip, swede 150, carrot 50, green onion 25, mayonnaise 30 or vegetable oil 20, vinegar 5, herbs.
Delicious salad with turnips (rutabaga).
Boiled carrots and turnips are cut into small cubes, green peas, bunches of boiled cauliflower are added, seasoned with mayonnaise and mixed. Carrots 25, turnips 50, green peas 10, cauliflower 30, mayonnaise 20.

It is impossible to answer unequivocally the question which type of cabbage is more valuable - each head and red cabbage is approximately equivalent (about 1.8%), there is somewhat more of it in kohlrabi, cauliflower and broccoli. The highest content of protein and vitamin C in Brussels sprouts, and carotene - in broccoli.
According to the content of sugars, they can be arranged in the following sequence (in descending order): Brussels sprout, red head, color and white head.
Previously, fresh white cabbage was used in the diet only 1-2 months a year, and the rest of the time it was replaced by sauerkraut. Therefore, we have relatively few fresh cabbage dishes, except for cabbage soup from fresh cabbage, a favorite dish of our people. Recall some forgotten or little-known cabbage dishes.
Sauerkraut salad. Pickled sauerkraut. Large pieces are shredded. Remove the seed nest from the apples and cut them into thin slices. Cranberries are picked. Everything is mixed, chopped onions are added, seasoned with vegetable oil. Cranberries can be replaced with pickled cherries.
The sauerkraut salad is squeezed out, cut into squares, fried in butter, placed in portioned pans, poured with a mixture of eggs and milk and baked in ovens.
White cabbage 340/272, egg 1 pc. (40 g), milk 20, butter 20, herbs, salt. Cabbage baked with sour cream. The head of cabbage is cut into slices, boiled in salted water until half cooked, folded back and slightly squeezed. Cabbage slices are placed on oiled pans, poured over with sour cream sauce, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked.
Cabbage 340/272, sour cream sauce 75, crackers 3, butter 10.
Cabbage loaf. A head of cabbage is boiled until half cooked and sorted into leaves. The stewpan is greased with oil, sprinkled with breadcrumbs. Then its bottom and walls are covered with cabbage leaves, put a layer of minced meat, cabbage leaves, a layer of minced meat, etc. The loaf is lightly pressed with a smaller lid. Then its surface is smeared with sour cream, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked. The finished loaf is taken out of the saucepan, cut into portions and poured with sauce (sour cream, tomato, etc.). Minced meat is prepared as for vegetable cabbage rolls. To do this, cut onion, carrot, sweet pepper into strips and lightly fry with oil. Add tomatoes, a little water and simmer everything together. Of course, in the old days, tomatoes were not added to minced meat, since they appeared with us only in the second half of the 19th century. You can make the same loaf with minced meat or with rice and mushrooms. Cabbage 225/180, onions 30/25, carrots 70/55, sweet peppers or eggplants 25/20, tomatoes 30, rice 10, eggs ‘/5 pcs., butter 15, crackers 10.
Cabbage in cream. Cabbage is boiled until half cooked, cut into squares, fried with butter, poured with cream and stewed. Cabbage 250/200, butter 10, cream 100.
The legendary author of The Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor, told us an amazing story about how, during the siege of one of the cities, Russian squads suffered terrible hunger and the enemies expected them to surrender in the coming days, but on the advice of the Belgorod elder, the inhabitants gathered the last supplies, cooked kissel , poured it into the well, sat around and in full view of the besiegers scooped jelly from the well and ate. “The Russian land itself feeds them, such a people cannot be defeated!” - the Pechenegs decided and lifted the siege. What kind of kisel are we talking about? Of course, not about modern kissels - a sweet dish, but about hearty, nutritious oatmeal kissel, which was a favorite dish for Russian people. Here is the recipe for this jelly.
Oatmeal jelly. Pour the cereal with warm water and leave for a day in a warm place. Then strain and squeeze. Add salt, sugar to the resulting liquid and boil, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add milk to hot jelly, mix, pour into buttered bowls, put in the cold. When the jelly hardens, cut it into portions and serve with cold boiled milk or yogurt. Oatmeal (hercules) 100, sugar 8, salt 2, water 300, milk 200, butter 5.
Peas block. It is hardly possible to find another cuisine in the world that would prepare cold appetizers from cereals or peas, and there are many such dishes in Russian cuisine. They are simple, nutritious and delicious. The modern city dweller does not hold peas in high esteem. Is that a soup of peas with smoked meats. But in vain: in peas there are about 23% of proteins, 46% of starch, and there are a lot of vitamins. It is difficult to digest, but this can be helped by preparing "peas with a block", which has been prepared in Rus' for many centuries.
"Pea block". Peas are completely boiled and crushed, the resulting puree is seasoned with salt and molded (you can use molds, cups, etc., oiled). The shaped pea puree is laid out on a plate and poured with sunflower oil with fried onions, sprinkled with herbs. Shelled peas 100, vegetable oil 20, onion 60, salt to taste, herbs.
The ancient Slavic peoples - Delyans, Drevlyans, Krivichi, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Northerners and others spoke Russian. They were united not only by a common language, but also by the customs, traditions and traditions of the table. V. Chivilikhin writes that even feudal fragmentation, oddly enough, contributed to the formation of common features of the Slavic way of life: "good elders", favorite singers, masters of the highest qualification, utensils, books.

In the X-XIII centuries, with the development of cities and consumption, the range of cultivated crops expanded. During these times, onions, cucumbers, dill, beets, plums, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and garlic were popular. Since they were mainly grown by urban residents, the price for these products was quite high, so the vegetables, fruits and greens mentioned above appeared on the tables of narrow social strata.

A revolution in nutrition was made by sour rye bread, or rather, not so much by the bread itself, as by the fermentation technology, due to which the dough was loosened. Like all food novelties, sour bread for a long time remained a delicacy of the princely environment. A similar situation was with kvass and kissel. However, later these products were tasted by all segments of the population and mastered the technology of preparation.

The baptism of Rus' and the ensuing expansion of contacts with the countries of the Christian world also influenced Russian cuisine. Spices, seasonings, overseas fruit plants began to be added to food. The structure of nutrition has also changed: during religious fasts, the share of meat and dairy products in the diet was reduced, while plant foods and fish, respectively, increased.

It is difficult to say how significant changes occurred at that time in the structure of nutrition of the rural population, whose very superficial Christianization dragged on for several centuries. However, in the immediate vicinity of the cities, the first specialized fishing villages began to appear, and in the cities themselves in the second half of the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries. professional fishing and fish trade are developing.

From the 14th century, water mills began to be used. At the same time, the stove was changing: the old Russian one with a semicircular top gave way to a stove with a flat top. As a result, they began to bake not only the usual bread, but also sweets, such as gingerbread. The growing popularity of cereals is associated with the development of crop production. From vegetables, those that could be stored for a long time were preferred. It becomes a habit to consume the fruits of cultivated plants and berries. For example, in Novgorod there were not only boyar apple orchards, but also small gardens in the yards of middle-class citizens. There is also such a way of processing products as preservation.

Meat consumption markedly decreased during this period compared to the 10th-13th centuries. Hunting is being replaced by animal husbandry. There were two main ways to store meat: freezing and salting. The established practice of religious fasting has made fishing one of the most important industries.

Since the 14th century, watermills have been used

The greatest changes in Russian food culture occurred in the 16th-17th centuries. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, sweet cherries, raspberries, strawberries were cultivated everywhere.

With dairy products, the situation remained practically unchanged: fresh and sour milk was used for food, cottage cheese, cheese, butter were produced, and sour cream appeared. Of the meat products, they still consumed beef, lamb, pork, they began to eat more poultry meat and eggs. Only horns and hooves did not go into food. And everything that could be eaten in one form or another was carefully prepared. Fish processing technologies are improving significantly: now it is salted, smoked, boiled. Caviar, screech is widely used; fish is used to make fish oil, fish glue, everything is used, up to the fused bladder and scales.

Lunch was recognized as the main meal in Rus'

From the 16th century, the division into rural, monastic and royal cuisines began. The first was the least rich and varied, but had its own charm: lunch was recognized as the main meal in Rus', so its organization was given special attention. During the holidays, about 20 dishes could be served, which were put on the table in a strictly defined order: first a cold appetizer, then soup, the second and pies for dessert.

The basis of the diet of the monks was plant foods: vegetables, herbs, fruits. The royal cuisine was famous for the abundance of the refectory table, which was sometimes torn not only from a variety of Russian dishes, but also from overseas outlandish delicacies.

Many experts involved in the study of life in Old Rus', its features and culinary dishes, speak out negatively against the forcible introduction of the custom of tea drinking into the Russian national cuisine, instead of hearty and tasty food. Because it is unlikely that a simple tea party can replace a hearty lunch. Because the Russian people, by virtue of their customs, the Orthodox faith, constantly have to fast. And regular "tea drinking" is unlikely to bring special benefits to the body.

In addition, there is an opinion that in order for food to bring as much benefit to the body as possible, a person needs to eat what grows in the climatic zone of his residence. It would also not be superfluous to add how the reforms of Peter the Great influenced the original Russian cuisine. Because Russian cuisine not so much gained after that as lost after many borrowings from Western European cuisine.

But, of course, this issue is controversial, so here we can cite the stories of some well-known experts in the field of Russian culture. After a digression into history, many readers will remain unconvinced, but on the whole they will be enriched with data on the lost values ​​​​of our people, especially in the field of nutrition, especially since culinary science is dwindling.

For example, the writer Chivilikhin writes in his notes that in ancient times the Vyatichi, Drevlyans, Radimichi, Northerners and other Proto-Russian peoples ate almost the same food as we do now - meat, poultry and fish, vegetables, fruits and berries, eggs , cottage cheese and porridge. Then oil was added to this food, seasoned with anise, dill, vinegar. Bread was consumed in the form of carpets, rolls, loaves, pies. They didn’t know tea and vodka then, but they brewed intoxicated honey, beer and kvass.

Of course, the writer Chivilikhin is right about something. They drank honey, and it flowed down their mustaches. But at the same time, one should not forget that in our country the Christian Orthodox Church calls for keeping, if not strict, then semi-strict fasting almost all year round. And not all products from the above list could be eaten.
If we talk about the original Russian cuisine, then its first mention dates back to the 11th century. Later records can be found in various chronicles, lives. And it is here that a complete picture of what was included in the daily diet of a simple Russian peasant is given. And since the 15th century, we can already talk about Russian cuisine, with established traditions and original dishes.

Let us recall such well-known sayings as: "Eat half full, but drink half drunk - you will live a full century" or "Shti and porridge - our food ...".

That is, even church dogmas did not in the least harm either the conscience or the Russian stomach. Therefore, it must be said that since ancient times, Rus' has been grain, fish, mushroom, berry ...

From generation to generation, our people ate porridge, grain dishes. “Porridge is our mother, and rye bread is our father!” Grain formed the basis of Russian cuisine. In each family, they put in large quantities rye, unleavened and sour dough. From it they prepared carols, juicy, kneaded noodles, bread. And when wheat flour appeared in the 10th century, there was already just expanse - kalachi, pancakes, pies, loaves, pancakes ...

In addition, various rye, oat and wheat kissels were cooked from grain crops. Who today can boast of knowing the recipe for oatmeal jelly?
A good help to the table were various vegetables from the garden, for example, turnips. It was eaten in any form - even raw, even steamed, even baked. The same can be said about peas. Carrots were not grown then, but radish, especially black radish, was widely used. Cabbage was consumed both fresh and sauerkraut.

Initially, the brew or bread was always fish. It was later that dishes such as mash, talkers, cabbage soup, borscht and botvini appeared. And in the 19th century, such a thing as soup already appeared. But even without this, there was something to choose from food at the table. In general, in Rus' they valued a good eater, because as a person eats, such is he at work.

To roughly imagine what we are talking about, we read Domostroy: “... at home and flour and all kinds of pies, and all kinds of pancakes, and sotsni, and pipes, and all sorts of cereals and pea noodles, and squash peas, and zobonets, and kundumtsy, and boiled and juice food: pies with pancakes and mushrooms, and with saffron milk mushrooms, and with mushrooms, and with poppy seeds, and with porridge, and with turnips, and with cabbage, and with what God sent; or nuts in juice, and Korowai people…”. In addition, lingonberry water and cherries in molasses, raspberry juice and other sweets were always on the table. Apples, pears, boiled kvass and molasses, prepared marshmallows and levoshniks. We would like to take a look at such a meal, at least once to try!

The main secret of our cuisine was the Russian stove. It was in it that all cooked dishes acquired a unique taste and aroma. This was also facilitated by cast-iron pots with thick walls. After all, what is cooking in a Russian oven? This is not boiling or frying, but the gradual languishing of a brew or bread. When there is a uniform heating of the dishes from all sides. And this primarily contributed to the preservation of all taste, nutritional and aromatic properties.

Yes, and the bread in the Russian oven was distinguished by a crispy crust and uniform baking, a good rise in the dough. Is it possible to compare bread baked in a Russian oven with what we find on the shelves of our stores? After all, this can hardly be called Bread!

In general, the Russian stove was a kind of symbol of our country. On it, children were conceived, and gave birth, and slept, and were also treated. They ate on the stove and died on it. The whole life of a Russian person, the whole meaning revolved around the Russian stove.
Well, in the end, let's face the truth: a simple person did not eat chic in Rus', they never ate their fill in the village. But this is not because the traditional Russian cuisine was poor, but because it was hard for a peasant to live in Rus'. Big family, many mouths - how to feed everyone? Therefore, not out of greed, they ate poorly, but because of poverty. The farmer had nothing, he saved on everything, saving an extra penny.

However, all the same, we can safely say that there is nothing better than real Russian food - simple, but satisfying, tasty and nutritious.

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In ancient times, people were rarely obese. They had their own healthy diet, which has nothing to do with modern diets and other troubles. They simply ate natural food grown by their own hands, mainly porridge and vegetable products, meat, milk. Because they did not have hypermarkets stuffed with sausages and cheeses. As they say, what they raised, they ate. That's why they were healthy.

Regardless of nationality and climate conditions, a person will be healthy if he refuses artificially created products: chips, pizzas, cakes, food filled with sugar in abundance.

It turns out that organizing healthy is very simple. You can borrow some recipes and concepts from the ancients and transfer them to modern life. The basis of the diet is to make easy-to-cook dishes from vegetables, livestock meat, fish, add fruits, cereals and root crops.

The traditional cuisine of the Russian people has partially preserved ancient recipes. The Slavs were engaged in the cultivation of grain crops: barley, rye, oats, millet and wheat. Ritual porridge was prepared from cereals with honey - kutya, the rest of the porridges were cooked from flour, crushed grains. Garden crops were grown: cabbage, cucumbers, turnips, radishes, turnips.

Various meats were consumed, beef, pork, there are even some records of horse meat, but this was most likely in the famine years. Often meat was cooked on coals, this method of baking was also found among other peoples, it was widespread everywhere. All these references date back to the 10th century.

Russian chefs honored and kept traditions, you can learn about this from old books, such as "Painting for the Royal Meals", monastic writings, the dining room book of Patriarch Filaret. These scriptures mention traditional dishes: cabbage soup, fish soup, pancakes, pies, various pies, kvass, jelly and cereals.

Basically, a healthy diet in ancient Rus' was due to cooking in a large oven, which was in every home.

The Russian stove was located with the mouth to the door so that the smoke would be vented from the room during cooking. When cooking, all the same, the smell of smoke remained on the food, which betrayed a special taste to the dishes. Most often, soups in pots were prepared in the Russian oven, vegetables were stewed in cast iron, something was baked, meat and fish were fried in large pieces, all this was dictated by the conditions of cooking. And as you know, a healthy diet is based on boiled and stewed dishes.

Around the 16th century, the division of nutrition into 3 main branches began:

• Monastic (base - vegetables, herbs, fruits);
• Rural;
• Royal.

The most important meal was lunch - 4 dishes were served:

• Cold appetizer;
• Second;
• Pies.

Appetizers were varied, but mostly represented by vegetable salads. Instead of soup in winter, they often ate jelly or pickle, cabbage soup was served with pies and fish. Most often they drank fruit and berry juices, herbal infusions, the oldest drink is bread kvass, which could be made with the addition of mint, berries and the like.

During the holidays there were often a large number of dishes, among the villagers it reached 15, among the boyars up to 50, and at royal feasts up to 200 types of food were served. Often festive feasts lasted more than 4 hours, reaching up to 8. It was customary to drink honey before and after meals, during the feast they often drank kvass and beer.

The character of the kitchen has retained traditional features in all 3 directions in our time. The principles of traditional nutrition are quite consistent with the now known rules of healthy.

Vegetables, cereals and meat were put forward as the basis of the diet, there were not a lot of sweets, there was no sugar in its pure form at all, honey was used instead. Until a certain time there was no tea and coffee, they drank various juices and brewed herbs.

Salt in the diet of our ancestors was also very limited due to its cost.

It is also worth noting that both the Slavs and the peasants were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding, and this is hard physical labor, so they could afford to eat fatty meat and fish. Despite the widespread belief that boiled potatoes with greens are a native Russian dish, this is not at all the case. The potato appeared and took root in our diet only in the 18th century.

How did the paleo diet come about?

You can dig deeper and remember that really healthy eating existed even in the Stone Age. Did ancient people live without sandwiches and donuts? And they were strong and healthy. Now the paleontological diet is gaining popularity. Its essence is to give up dairy products and cereal foods (bread, pasta).

The main argument in favor of this diet is that the human body adapted to life in the Stone Age and, since our genetic structure has remained virtually unchanged, the food of cavemen is the most suitable for us.

Basic principles:

• Meat, fish, vegetables, fruits can be eaten in any quantity;
• Salt is excluded from the diet;
• You will also have to give up beans, cereals, industrial products (cookies, sweets, cakes, chocolate bars) and dairy products.

Menu for the day:

• Steamed pike perch, melon, together up to 500 grams;
• Salad of vegetables and walnuts (unlimited), lean beef or pork baked in the oven, up to 100 grams;
• Lean beef, steamed, up to 250 grams, avocado salad, up to 250 grams;
• Some fruit or a handful of berries;
• Carrot and apple salad, half an orange.

However, it is worth considering that such nutrition is more reminiscent than healthy, because modern man draws about 70% of his energy from cereals and dairy products.

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