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. “Hua’er, don’t talk nonsense! They were wrong for not stopping you from leaving the city. They didn’t protect you after you left the city. It’s a crime to let you go through that kind of thing.” And damn it. “In the Blue Tsar’s era, the royal cuisine fell under the jurisdiction of the chamberlain, whose responsibilities included running the intelligence department and being responsible for the safety of the emperor and his family. Since 1878, the palace began to conduct chemical identification of food. If the emperor is in the country for inspection or “flowering” Son, don’t worry, your parents will never let you be humiliated. ” Lan Mu wiped away the tears on his face and assured her in a firm tone. “Your father said that when the Xi family visits various countries, they usually bring 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. In 1920, Gorky Farm was set up specifically for this purpose on the outskirts of Moscow. However, banquets have long been regarded as extravagant. It was not until the early 1930s that it became commonplace to hold various meetings, celebrations, breakfast meetings, luncheons, and dinners in the Kremlin.
In the 1930s and during the Great Patriotic War, Caucasian food, especially Gru “How is this possible? Mom can’t ignore my wishes. I want to find her to find out what’s going on! “Giya cuisine has always been the main course of various banquets in the Kremlin palace, and the domineering pepper-infused white wine shocked foreign guests. Providing delicious, healthy and especially safe meals to the Kremlin palace has become a top priority of the intelligence department. Since then Since then, all chefs, waiters and other personnel in the Kremlin kitchen have had military ranks, a tradition that continues to this day. Rocket Bread
Alevtina Klinna (warrant officer rank) who managed the Kremlin kitchen from 1956 to 1983 ) once served Khrushchev. She recalled: “Their 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 one after another; 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, so he cannot miss out on baked pastries on weekends, and 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. ”
Klinna has put a lot of thought into the table settings for various receptions in the Kremlin Palace. The themes of different dinner parties are different. If it is to celebrate humanity When developing space, bread specially made into the shape of a globe will be placed on the table, and a map of the world will be drawn with food coloring. “I still remember that when Gagarin entered space, I made a rocket out of bread; when the ‘Lenin’ When the nuclear icebreaker was launched, we even launched three-dimensional icebreakers, Soviet flags, ice cubes and even penguins and whales. The main raw material was butter.”
Khrushchev’s wine glass
According to the description in “The Kremlin·Special Kitchen” , people may think that the Soviet state banquet is full of scenes of people drinking happily, but in fact, most of the Soviet leaders just raise their glasses to their lips.already.
Alexey Salnikov (rank of lieutenant colonel) who served as chief instructor in the kitchen of the Kremlin Palace from 1965 to 1993 Revealed: “Khrushchev has a specially customized wine glass. We put it in the medicine box and carry it with us as necessary. Because of the decorative pattern on the body of the glass, it looks the same as the crystal wine glass used at banquets. In fact, The bottom and walls of the cup are much thicker. The capacity is 30 ml instead of the usual 50 ml. Khrushchev usually does not drink it all in one drink, but only takes a sip. During the later period of his rule, Khrushchev has been reducing the number of banquets. When we went to Vladivostok, he told me to be careful not to serve white wine at the reception. I asked the waiter to only serve 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 scolded the waiter when he couldn’t find the liquor. The latter argued that he did it according to my instructions. He started to blame me: ‘How can you do this? ‘ I replied politely: ‘Please don’t yell. Do you think Khrushchev came to you to drink vodka and not to talk about things? Didn’t he have his own vodka?’”
Receive a fur coat as a thank you
When visiting the Soviet Union, foreign dignitaries usually tasted Russian cuisine even if they brought 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, she recalled what happened before she fell into the dream, and the feeling was still vivid and heartbreaking. How could this all be a dream? I found that the food had not been touched much before. Some people praised the chef’s skills and felt that they should repay him with courtesy.
Yuri Ponomarev (rank of captain), who worked in the kitchen of the Kremlin Palace from 1972 to 1997, recalled: “Mongolia The foreign guest had given me a fur coat, two or three meters of suede, and camel hair. As soon as she finished saying this, she saw her mother-in-law’s eyelashes trembling, and then she slowly opened her eyes, and in an instant, she burst into tears involuntarily. Covered with quilts and leather jackets; the Czechs would give them Bohemian vases and tea sets; the Bulgarians would leave behind plum wine and suit fabrics. But the ones we most wanted to serve at that time were Iranian VIPs because we had the chance to be rewarded by the king. , a 6-gram gold coin with his image on it. I have had such good luck twice. I feel happy that my efforts were respected, so I always remember it. ”
The former Cuban leader Fidel Castro once invited Ponomarev to come to him. The latter recalled: “I was uneasy, thinking that 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 his father always came home from a long trip. Bringing pears to him and his brother was a real treat for young Fidel and Raúl. This memory brought back 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 is a difficult journey for the Kremlin chef, especially since the country is still in the ruins of war and has many things to do. Anatoly Zhukov (with the rank of lieutenant colonel), who served as a service member of the Kremlin Palace from 1976 to 2012, was quite impressed by that business trip: “We saw with our own eyes how cooking was done there… They could put ice cubes into Smash it on the ground, smash it, pick it up and put it in a tall jug for juice, just in case. I once accompanied Gorbachev on a business trip to Vietnam, and there was no chef accompanying him. 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 they stayed was crawling with cockroaches and there was no kitchen. Because I would be there for 12 days, I was worried that I would not survive. When I turned on the faucet, I could 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, and repeated it several times. There were ants crawling everywhere, so we could only sprinkle vinegar around the table.”
Not a pampered gentleman.
Alexey Salnikov shared his thoughts on the Kremlin leader’s sleeve. With a silent movement, he let her into the house to freshen up and change her clothes. During the whole process, the master and servant were very gentle, silent and silent. Opinion: “Many leaders are not pampered gentlemen, so they advocate frugality on certain issues. Khrushchev likes to eat lightly and eat less greasy food. He prefers Ukrainian cabbage soup with thick cakes. When he goes hunting, he will Ask Podgorny, who is traveling with you, to make a thick farm soup and add yellow rice, potatoes and meat cut into large pieces.”
Generally speaking, the previous leaders of the Soviet Union and Russia were not fans of exotic food. They were all 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 did not squeeze the drinks with his own hands, it was all a job in the Kremlin kitchen.