In the class I discovered that
Valentina not only teaches English but also nutrition. She encourages an
understanding of biblical principles among her students as well.
During her tour of the USA in the summer of 1996 Valentina agreed that we
should arrange time to explore our common interests. I wanted to
learn what I could about Russian cooking that would appeal to the tastes
of Americans. Valentina was curious about popular American dishes. After
all MacDonalds was opening restaurants in her city.
Into the kitchen we went. Out came one of Valentina's nutritionally
improved dishes--deep, red, hearty, sumptuous vegetarian borsch,
without the grease, overwhelmingly approved by American guests we had invited to taste test
our dishes. Then it was on to my pancake/waffle recipe that used
ingredients available in Russia. Our cookout went on recipe after recipe
for a whole month.
Surprisingly, we discovered that Americans
and Russians have many basic foods in common--potatoes, carrots, onions,
garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, etc. I saw that many of my own
recipes could be adapted to Russian tastes and that Valentina's recipes
were adaptable to American interests. Valentina's Borsch will
appeal to American palates because it doesn't taste like beets, yet is
flavorful and eye catching. On the other hand, my waffle and pancake
recipe made with buckwheat or oats, grains familiar to Russians (as kasha
for example) should appeal to most Russians.
Our approach is to begin with favorite recipes and then to improve the
quality of the ingredients. In this way one makes the transition from the
familiar to the unfamiliar more easily.
Valentina
wanted to master healthy American hamburgers. I wanted to learn about her pirashki.
We developed blender batter bilini (crepes). Back and forth we went
accumulating recipes. As the time for Valentina's departure drew nearer,
my husband suggested that we assemble our combined recipes into a booklet
of recipes to introduce Valentina's friends to American favorite foods and
our friends to some Russian fare. Overnight I learned the Cyrillic
keyboard, Valentina translated, I typed in an unfamiliar alphabet,
Valentina edited. Volia! A cookbook.
