THE COMPOSITION OF FESTIVE DISHES IN SYKTYVKAR IN THE 1970–1980S

The article discusses the composition of the dishes on the festive feast in the multinational city of Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi ASSR, in the 1970s–1980s. The choice of this chronological framework is due to the fact that by the end of the 1960s the food crisis of the post-war period was overcome, while the economic crisis of the 1990s had not yet begun. The sources for studying the composition of the guest menu were the memories of urban residents born in 1929–1960, Russians and Komi, who created families with Komi, Russians and Ukrainians. The corpus of sources has been expanded with handwritten collections of recipes for festive dishes. The relative prosperity with food, although with some difficulties in obtaining it, especially manifested in the provinces, made it possible to revive the practice of organizing a festive feast. The hostesses were faced with the task of satisfyingly feeding the guests, and the mentality of that period required serving home-cooked food. The repertoire of the festive menu included cold appetizers, hot dishes, sweets and alcoholic drinks. Salads “Olivier”, “Herring under a fur coat”, “Mimosa”, rice with crab sticks were seasoned with mayonnaise, so they were very high-calorie and satisfying. Salted mushrooms, cucumbers and tomatoes, herring and aspic made a variety in the composition of cold appetizers. Hot main courses were presented from meat, chicken, fish dishes were absent due to its shortage in sales. Food raw materials purchased through the trading network, the same recipe and cooking technology predetermined the serving of dishes with unified features. The ethno-cultural specificity of the festive feast in the serving of game and fish, which was manifested earlier, has practically disappeared, but the serving of mushrooms and berries has been preserved. In those years, there is a tendency to blur the difference between festive and everyday food. Nevertheless, it can be unequivocally said that salads and sweets were considered exclusively as dishes of the festive table. The hostesses spared no effort and time to prepare a “sweet” table, especially for children’s parties.

Syktyvkar, 1970–1980, festive menu, cold appetizers, salads, hot dishes, sweets, alcoholic drinks