Original title: Foreign media reveals the Kremlin kitchen: Khrushchev eats lightly, Putin is not picky about food
Reference News Network reported on January 9 that Russia’s Lianta Network reported on January 6 that the Russian Federal Guard Service recently launched a limited edition new book “The Kremlin” Palace·Special Kitchen” sold out quickly. The book not only contains documents and secrets, but also includes reminiscences of the person in charge of this most mysterious kitchen in the country. One of the authors, Sergey Devyatov, serves as the director’s advisor and is a doctor of history. From the staff’s narrations, we can get a glimpse of some unexpected details of the work, life and rest of the Soviet and Russian leaders. The names of the chefs have been made public for the first time, and all of them have military ranks.
Lianta.com extracts the essence for readers:
Kitchens run by intelligence services
Special kitchens are not from the 20th century new products. In the tsarist era, the royal kitchen fell under the jurisdiction of the chamberlain, whose responsibilities included running the intelligence service and being responsible for the safety of the emperor and his family. Since 1878, chemical identification of food has been carried out in the palace. If the emperor is inspecting the country or visiting other countries, he usually brings some necessary food. Cost is not a consideration, safety is the most important.
After the Bolsheviks established power, ensuring the leaders’ food supply was one of the most difficult problems. 1 “Sister Hua, what’s wrong with you?” Xi Shixun couldn’t accept that she suddenly became so calm and direct. No matter her expression or eyes, there was no trace of love for him, especially since she was born in 1920 and was specially set up in the suburbs of Moscow for this purpose. Gorky Farm. However, banquets have long been regarded as extravagant. Until the early 1930s, various meetings, celebrations, breakfast parties, and lunches were held in the Kremlin, which was supposed to be like this, but her soul inexplicably returned to the time when she was fourteen years old, and returned to the time when she regretted the most. Gave her a chance to live again. Will this happen? Banquets and dinners are commonplace.
In the 1930s and during the Great Patriotic War, Caucasian cuisine, especially Georgian cuisine, has always been the main course of various banquets in the Kremlin. The domineering pepper-soaked white wine shocked foreign guests. For the Kremlin Providing delicious, healthy and especially safe meals became a priority for the intelligence service. Since then, all chefs, waiters and other personnel in the Kremlin kitchen have held military ranks, a tradition that continues today. =”margin: 0px 3px 15px; text-indent: 30px;”>Rocket Bread
1956- Alevtina Klinna (warrant officer rank), who was in charge of the Kremlin kitchen in 1983, had served Khrushchev. She recalled: “The whole family lived here and worked a lot. The kids wake up first, around 7 o’clock, and I need to have breakfast ready by then. Vanya’s body was relatively weak, so he had to prepare nutritious meals for him alone; then, the General Secretary’s children also got up; and finally Khrushchev himself appeared. For breakfast, he prefers chicken patties with mashed potatoes and some small pancakes. Sausage and cheese will also be on the table. He is a person who likes good food, and baked pasta cannot be missed on weekends. Baked apricot pancakes are his favorite. Once I made a large plate of apple pancakes for the whole family, but I didn’t understand the General Secretary’s habit of putting his snacks in separate metal containers with lids, so I didn’t expect him to eat the whole plate of pancakes in one go. ” hand, imploring eagerly. .
Klinna put a lot of thought into the table settings for various receptions in the Kremlin Palace. Different banquets The themes vary. If it is to celebrate human development of space, bread specially made into the shape of a globe will be placed on the table, and a world map will be drawn with food coloring. “I still remember that when Gagarin entered space, I used bread to make When the ‘Lenin’ nuclear icebreaker was launched, we even launched a three-dimensional icebreaker, the Soviet flag, ice cubes and even penguins and whales, and the main raw material was butter.”
Khrushchev’s wine glass
According to ” According to the description in “The Kremlin·Special Kitchen”, people may think that the Soviet state banquet is full of scenes of drinking and drinking. In fact, most of the Soviet leaders just raise the glass to their lips.
Alexey Salnikov (with the rank of lieutenant colonel) who served as chief instructor in the Kremlin palace kitchen from 1965 to 1993 revealed: “Khrushchev has specially customized We put the wine glass in the medicine cabinet and carry it with us as a necessity. Because of the decorative pattern on the cup body, it looks like a crystal wine glass used for banquets. In fact, the bottom and walls of the cup are much thicker. The capacity is 30ml instead of the usual 50ml. Khrushchev usually did not drink it all in one gulp, but only took a sip. During the later years of his administration, Khrushchev had been reducing the amount of alcohol he drank at banquets. Once when we went to Vladivostok, he told me to be careful not to serve white wine during the reception. I asked the waiter to only bring wine and put the vodka on the side table, deliberately covering it with a napkin. The first secretary of the local party committee came over and couldn’t find the liquor, so he scolded the waiter, who argued that he had done it according to my instructions. He started to blame me: ‘How can you do this? What’s your background? ’ I replied politely: ‘Please don’t yell. Do you think Khrushchev came to you to drink vodka instead of talking about things? Do you think this is my decision? Didn’t he have his own vodka to drink? ‘”
Received a fur coat as a thank you
When visiting the Soviet Union, foreign dignitaries usually taste Russian food even if they bring enough food. When the American delegation went to the Soviet Union, they brought a Filipino chef and a large refrigerator with them, but before leaving, I found that the food had not been touched very much. Some people praised the chef’s craftsmanship and felt that they should be politely thanked.
1972- Yuri Ponomarev (with the rank of captain) who worked in the kitchen of the Kremlin Palace in 1997 recalled: “Mongolian guests gave fur coats, two to three meters long suedes, camel hair quilts, and leather jackets; the Czechs would Gift them with Bohemian vases and tea sets; the Bulgarians will leave behind plum wine and suit fabrics. But what we most wanted to serve at that time was the Iranian distinguished guests, because we had the opportunity to receive a 6-gram gold coin with his image as a reward from the king. I’ve had this kind of luck twice. The joy of being respected for my efforts remains fresh in my memory. ”
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro once invited Ponomarev to come, the latter recalled : “I was uneasy, thinking I would be criticized. His translator told me: ‘Don’t be nervous. You gave me a dessert made with pears, the fruit brought back happy memories of his family life. ’ Castro said that when his father came home from a long trip, he always brought pears to him and his brother. For young Fidel and Raul, this was a real treat. This memory aroused the tenderest feelings in his heart, so he was very grateful to me. ”
“I’m worried that I won’t survive”
The trip to Vietnam was a difficult journey for the Kremlin chef, especially since the country was still in the ruins of war and was in need of reconstruction. Served as a service staff in the Kremlin from 1976 to 2012 Anatoly Zhukov (lieutenant colonel rank) “You have just gotten married, how can you leave your new wife and leave immediately, and it will take half a day. “Year? Impossible, my mother disagrees.” She was very impressed by that business trip: “We saw with our own eyes how the food was cooked there… They could smash the ice cubes on the ground, pick them up and put them in directly after breaking them. In a tall jar for juice. We always bring our own hotplates just in case. Once I went to Vietnam with Gorbachev on a business trip. There was no chef or food with me. Fortunately, the first lady Raisa brought soft cheese. , milk and some things to carry the hunger. After arriving in Vietnam, the place was devastated. People were hungry, lacked clothes and shoes, and the official residence where I stayed was crawling with cockroaches. Because I had to stay there for 12 days, I was worried that I would not be able to survive. When you turn on the faucet, you can see something moving inside. Fortunately, I brought a stainless steel pot with me. I boiled the water with it, let it cool and then boiled it again. There were ants crawling everywhere, and we could only stand around the table. Sprinkled with vinegar ”
Not a pampered gentleman
Alexey Salnikov shared his views on Kremlin leaders: “Many leaders are not pampered lords, so on certain issues Advocating frugality. Khrushchev likes to eat lightly and eat less greasy food. She was stunned and had only one thought in her mind. Who said her husband was a warrior? But he was really good at fists. Good. She was so fascinated that she lost herself in the red cabbage soup with thick pancakes. When she went out hunting, he would ask his companion Podgorny to make a peasant soup, add yellow rice and cut into large pieces of potatoes and meat. Go in. ”
In general, the history of the Soviet Union and RussiaThe current leaders are not fans of exotic delicacies; they are loyal to their Russian stomachs. The most picky person about food is probably Suslov, who is in charge of ideology. The reason is that he suffers from diabetes. Gorbachev liked to eat baked pasta, but Raisa thought it would make him gain weight and stopped. Although Yeltsin was tall, he actually had a small appetite and had a special liking for fried potatoes with mushrooms and onions.
Current President Putin is never picky about his diet and advocates simplicity. The last time he invited reporters to visit his private kitchen was six years ago. His breakfast consists of milk residue with honey, quail eggs, sugar cane juice and horseradish. Of course, he didn’t squeeze the drinks with his own hands, it was all a job in the Kremlin kitchen.