April 03, 2005
Change of Heart: Buckwheat
Last time I spoke about buckwheat (греча), it was in less than flattering terms. Recently, however, I have become addicted to it.
I was first introduced to this marvelous grain two and a half years ago. I was in Ukraine teaching academic theory and practice, and it was my first experience in Eastern Europe (on that trip I also taught in Romania, Russia, and Moldova). When I arrived in Simferopol (Crimea), I was taken from the train, marched around town a little bit, and sat down to lunch with my hosts.
A bowl was placed in front of me, the contents unfamiliar. The only word that came to mind was "gruel." I tasted it, and finding it offensively bland, I politely ate about half. Mind - in a situation similar to Cartman's "What kind of side dishes will we be enjoying this evening with our frozen waffles? Am I to understand there will be no side dishes?" - I thought this was simply the first course. I was unpleasantly surprised when, about 20 minutes later, we all got up and left, leaving me about as hungry as when I came in. It was to be an important lesson in my culinary education, and one that I have kept well. Now, if someone puts food in front of me, unless it's truly repulsive (eg. cow brain), I usually eat it all.
Fast forward a year and a half to Thanksgiving 2003. I had just arrived in Russia, and was still experimenting with food, trying to find what was appealingly edible. Buckwheat had, by this time, graduated from offensively bland, to simply without taste.
Over the course of the past year and a half, I have had several more chances to try grecha (as I now refer to it, even in English), particularly at the main campus cafeteria. The meat at this place is ... how shall I put it ... suspect. To illustrate, they do not have knives, only spoons and forks. This doesn't actually pose any problems, however, seeing as how the forks are more than adequate to cut the maleable "meat." As a response, I have invented my own main course dish. Normally, one orders "meat," and a side dish. I end up taking two sides, mashed potatoes and grecha, and just combine them, literally. The grecha gives the potatoes texture, and the potatoes provide flavor.
Here is my standard cafeteria lunch:
The left cup is tea (free for students) and the right is 'compot,' a boiled fruit drink which alternates between green and red varieties. There are several "salads" to choose from, all of which have mayonaise as the staple ingredient. Here we have some brown version, presumably mushrooms. And of course, in the middle is my pre-mixing main course. This meal is not bad, reasonably filling and cheap. Usually costs around 60 rubles ($2.20). Not that it matters, but the actual date of the picture is March 25, 2005. Digital camera timestamps have the become the new flashing VCR '12:00,' us average folk can't be bothered to change it.
When I want higher quality grecha, I go to a good blini (crepes) chain called 'Teremok.' It's pricier, the grecha alone costs 60 rubles, but it's worth it. I normally order it with a mushroom cream sauce.
The shocking thing is that I haven't simply come to accept buckwheat as a part of life over here, I've adopted it as my own. When hungry, grecha is on the top of the list for foods. Scary ...
Posted by Owen at April 3, 2005 12:59 AM