I am Ivan Ivanovich Streltsov! Don’t worry – you don’t know me, I don’t know you – so we are even. What and who I am, that is a matter of small import to the here and now. I am a traveler, going by foot, horse, boat, even a couple of times on Dragon Back. My friends asked me for what I could remember on the foods I saw in all my travels. This is my poor attempt at answering my friend’s questions.
Ancient Surrian Proverb
If you would drink well,
Sit by your host.
If you would eat well,
Sit by your hostess.
Fair warning, you can tell much about a people by their food ways, and how they serve it. Most cultures offer food as a peace offering and welcome. Knowing these simple things, can only help your wanderings.
Belching
Warning, many cultures, if not most, consider belching a sign that you enjoyed the food. Watch your fellow dinners, and belch or not accordingly.
Dining
Eat well, die happy. Do not forget to enjoy the simple moments of pleasure we find in our lives.
Many still eat with their fingers, some use knives, many use spoons. It’s where the Albionese and Eirienarie came up with ideas of courtship – you gave a hand-carved spoon to your intended. In Surria, the old custom, to recognize heroism and service a great lord, Boyar or Tsar would present you with a spoon, indicating your right to bed, board and a suit of clothes at his expense for life. Some lucky few use forks in various forms for dining. Again, look about you, then ape what everyone else does.
Drinking
Do Surrians know how to drink? Ha! Beer is but mother’s milk to us. Here is good recipe to enjoy good beer.
Apple Kvass:
A cross between Apple Cider and Small Beer, this particular recipe is a pleasant fusion of two tastes. Yet for all that quite pleasant on a quiet evening. Better, it’s easy.
1/2 Gallon Good Cider
1/2 Pound Honey
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cloves, mace, nutmeg (Ground, or whole.)
1/2 lb Stale Black or Russian Rye Bread. Cubed
1 tbsp Yeast.
- Mix the spices together, and set aside. Take the honey and cider, mix them and warm, till steaming, but not boiling. Stir in the spices, remove from heat, and cover. Allow to cool. Next morning, or a few hours later, re-warm the honeyed apple cider. Stir in the cubed rye bread, and yeast. Remove from heat, recover and allow to stand for 24 hours.
- Strain the bread and sediment from the mixture using a tea cloth (An acceptable substitute would be a cloth flour bag, readily available at most grocery stores.), bottle, and chill. It may cloud if you aren’t careful in straining out the bread. If it clouds, freeze for 24 hours, and re-chill. The cloudy sediment should clear.
Enjoy the taste of Kvass and raise a toast to Surria!
– Ivan Ivanovich Streltsov
About Ivan
Ivan Ivanovich Streltsov admits to being out of the east. A wanderer, one time soldier, one time scholar, occasaional hero for hire, (Two different colleges, or is it three?), mercenary, traveler, if he’s to be believed he has the shores of the great eastern sea, the western sea, and the inland seas.
Two Awards of Arms
One Grant of Arms
A helmet full of awards, medals,
One of his areas of studies is food and food ways for the lands he travels through.