Month in Russian Kitchen: Harvest time and Moscow City Day

A harvest of fun

On Sept. 10-11, Moscow’s Kolomenskoye park will host a “bread and circuses” festival,  “Ура!жай,” whose name is a play on the Russian words “урожай” (harvest) and “ура” (hooray!). The festival will bring together restaurants, farms, grocery stores and chefs who grow, prepare, procure and sell only natural and organic goods. The event will combine the best traditions of world harvest festivals with lifehacks and solutions to modern problems. Lectures from culinary stars, baking workshops and a food market await as well as a parade of street theaters, livestock and pumpkin bowling!

The organizers of the “Ура!жай” festival, Geek Picnic and Life Picnic, plan to hold the event regularly. More information is available at the festival’s website, but in Russian only.

Happy birthday, Moscow

Also on Sept. 10-11, Moscow celebrates its birthday. The main City Day celebrations will be held along Tverskaya Street, the main thoroughfare of the capital. This year’s events will also celebrate the Year of Russian Cinema. Ten sites along the street will offer visitors foods that correspond to a classic movie.

The site devoted to the film “Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future” will offer “foreign” eggplant caviar, rabbit pate and the pre-revolutionary pie kulebyaka, while at the site celebrating the movie “Circus,” passers-by can try “Sitro” lemonade, cotton candy and kartoshka cake.

The sites will also play the music from the films.

Pushkin goes on a world tour

World-renowned Russian restaurateur Andrei Dellos, the owner of the famous Cafe Pushkin restaurant on central Moscow’s Tsvetnoy Bulvar, has an ambitious plan: he wants to turn the cafe into a global brand, opening 64 restaurants by 2020. The first “Pushkin” abroad is to open in Paris in 2017, near the Champs-Elysees. The restaurant’s interior will be made of wood and some elements are already being manufactured in Russia.

The first Cafe Pushkin opened in the Russian capital  in 1999 and has become a destination for Muscovites and tourists alike. It’s the best place to try high-quality traditional Russian cuisine, such as croquettes Pozharsky, rasstegais and Olivier salad.

Ancient castle welcomes beer lovers

The 12th century castle in the town of Vyborg on the Russian-Finnish border (520 miles north-west of Moscow) is opening a medieval tavern and an exhibit celebrating the history of beer-making. The castle, built by Swedes during a crusade to Karelia in 1293, had two breweries operating within its thick brick walls, according to historic documents.

The tavern will operate according to medieval norms, while the “Hops, Malt and Water” exhibit will tell the story of brewing in northwestern Russia, enhanced by lectures and excursions.

The exhibit will present brewing, one of the most ancient culinary arts of the world, in a modern, fully interactive way. The story of brewing and beer drinking in the families of Russian peasants is told with the help of authentic ethnographic items.

Vyborg castle is the only complete example of western European medieval military architecture in Russia. It is the most visited place in the Leningrad Region, attracting half a million visitors per year.

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