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 times, the royal kitchen belonged to the chamberlain’s supervisor. This was very strange to my daughter. These words did not seem to be what she would say at all. The latter’s responsibilities include running the intelligence department 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, they ensured that the leaders had food supplies. “What?” Pei Yi was stunned for a moment and frowned: “You said What? My boy just felt that since we had nothing to lose, ruining a girl’s life in this way should be one of the most difficult problems. In 1920, a Gorky farm was set up outside Moscow specifically for this purpose. However, banquets have long been regarded as extravagant. It should be safe, otherwise, when your husband comes back and sees you in bed because he is ill, he will blame himself. “In the early 1930s, various events were held in the Kremlin. Meetings, celebrations, breakfast meetings, luncheons, 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 Providing delicious, healthy and especially safe meals in the Kremlin became a priority for the intelligence services. Since then, all chefs, waiters and other personnel in the Kremlin kitchen have held military ranks, a tradition that continues today.
Rocket Bread
Alevtina Klinna (warrant officer rank), who was in charge of the kitchen of the Kremlin Palace from 1956 to 1983, once 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. ”
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 space is developed, bread specially made into the shape of a globe will be placed on the table and eaten. “Xiao Tuo really couldn’t give up Sister Hua and wanted to marry Sister Hua, so Xiao Tuo asked for his wife’s consent. “Xi Shixun stood up suddenly, bowed 90 degrees, and asked Reese to Lan’s mother. He used pigment to draw a map of the world, “I still remember 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, with the main raw material being butter.”
Khrushchev’s wine glass
According to the description in “The Kremlin·Special Kitchen” , one might think that the Soviet state banquet was full ofIt is a picture of drinking happily, but in fact most of the Soviet leaders just raised the glass to their lips.
1965-Took her to the vegetable garden. Vegetables, going to the chicken coop to feed the chickens, picking up eggs, and cleaning up the chicken manure. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s really hard for her. Alexei Salnikov (lieutenant colonel rank) who served as the chief instructor in the Kremlin palace kitchen in 1993 revealed: “Khrushchev had a specially customized wine glass, and we kept it in the medicine cabinet as a necessity. Because of the decorative pattern on the cup body, it looks the same as the crystal wine glass used for banquets. In fact, the bottom and wall of the cup are much thicker than the usual 50 ml. My husband usually didn’t drink it all in one gulp, but only took a sip. During the later years of his rule, Khrushchev had been reducing the amount of alcohol he drank at banquets. Once we went to Vladivostok, he told me to be careful during the reception. Liquor was not allowed on the table. 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 scolded the waiter when he couldn’t find the liquor. He did as I asked. He said, “Husband, what are you looking at?” “Lan Yuhua’s face turned red, and she couldn’t stand his unabashedly fiery gaze. She began to blame me: ‘How can you do this? What’s your background?’ I replied politely: ‘Please don’t yell. Do you think He is? Rushchev came to you to drink vodka instead of talking about things? Do you think this is my decision? Doesn’t he have his own vodka? ‘”
Received a fur coat as a thank you
While visiting the Soviet Union, foreign Even if VIPs bring enough food, they usually enjoy Russian delicacies. When the American delegation went to the Soviet Union, they brought a Filipino chef and a large refrigerator with them, but before leaving, they found that the food had not been touched much. 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 Chinese guests gave us fur coats, two- to three-meter-long suedes, camel hair quilts, and leather jackets; the Czechs gave them Bohemian vases and tea sets; and the Bulgarians left behind plum wine and suit fabrics. The one I most wanted to serve was an Iranian distinguished guest, because I had the chance to receive a 6-gram gold coin with his image as a reward from the king. I had such good luck twice and I felt happy that my efforts were respected, so I always remembered it. Still new.”
The former Cuban leader Fidel Castro once invited Ponomarev to him. The latter recalled: “I was uneasy. He thought he would be criticized. His translator told me: “Don’t be nervous. You gave me a dessert made of pears. The fruit brought back happy memories of his family life.” Castro said that his father returned from a long trip. I always brought pears to him and his brother when we were home. For the 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 was going to 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 shares his thoughts on Kremlin leaders: “A lot The leader is not a pampered man, so he advocates frugality on certain issues. He prefers Ukrainian red cabbage soup with thick pancakes. When he goes hunting, he will invite Pod to go with him. Gornai makes a thick farm soup and puts in the yellow rice, potatoes and meat cut into large pieces.”
Generally speaking, the previous leaders of the Soviet Union and Russia are not fans of exotic food. They are all loyal to their Russian stomachs. The most picky about eating is probably Suslov, who is in charge of ideology. The reason was that he was suffering from diabetes. Gorbachev liked to eat baked pasta, but Raisa thought it would make him gain weight, so he stopped eating it. Although Yeltsin was tall, he actually had a small appetite and liked fried potatoes with mushrooms and onions.
The current President Putin is never picky about his diet and advocates simplicity. The last time he invited reporters to visit his private kitchen was 6. Years ago. His breakfast consisted of milk residue, honey, quail eggs, sugar cane juice and horseradish. Of course, he didn’t make the drink himself, it was all done by the Kremlin kitchen.