"Tourists From Russia Are Baffled By The Names On The Menus At Belarusian Restaurants"
- 27.08.2026, 9:45
Draniki vs. Kulebyaka: How Our National Cuisine Sets Us Apart from the Russians.
Belarus and Russia have historically differed not only in their architecture but also in the characteristics of their national cuisines, writes "Solidarnast".
Many tourists from Russia are baffled by the names on the menus of our restaurants: verashchaka, babka, zrazy... On the other hand, it would be interesting to hear how Belarusians would answer the question: What is kulebyaka?
At the same time, these unfamiliar names sometimes hide a recipe that has a counterpart in both our and their cuisines. Take kulebyaka, for example—a type of stuffed pie that also exists in our cuisine, though with certain differences in preparation.
Here’s a short list we’ve put together—three items from each cuisine—dishes that both we and our eastern neighbors can call our own. Let’s start with the Belarusian ones.
Babka is a potato casserole—a dish made from grated potatoes with the addition of lard, pork brisket, and onions. It used to be baked in a wood-fired oven; these days, it’s prepared in any oven. There are similar dishes among our neighbors: in Poland it’s babka ziemniaczana, and in Lithuania—kugelis or bulvių plokštainis.
Machanka is a classic dish of Belarusian cuisine that has no exact counterpart among Belarus’s neighbors in Russia. The ribs are first browned and then simmered in a small amount of water with the addition of flour, herbs, and smoked meats—most often sausage. The result is a hearty gravy into which pancakes are dipped.
Sausage stuffed by hand—it’s made from pork, lard, and spices. The meat is cut into small pieces, and then the filling is literally pushed into the casing with the fingers. That’s where the name comes from.
And here are three dishes from Russian cuisine that have no exact equivalents here.
Okroshka—a cold soup made with chopped vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, and meat, served with kvass or kefir. For Belarusians, our beetroot cold soup is much more familiar.
Rassolnik is a soup that many associate with Soviet cafeterias. But its history goes back much further. Its predecessor is considered to be kalya soup, which was made from fish in cucumber brine.
Beef Stroganoff consists of thinly sliced beef served with a sauce. It is considered a classic of Russian cuisine. The dish was named in honor of Count Alexander Stroganov, one of the participants in the suppression of the 1830–1831 uprising. According to the most widely accepted version, the creator of Beef Stroganoff was the French chef André Dupont, who served a Russian nobleman.
Draniki as a Link to Europe
Interestingly, cuisine is one of those relatively rare cases where Moscow itself insists on this distinction: brotherhood is brotherhood, but culinary recipes are a separate matter. Moreover, for the Kremlin, this is a political issue.
In the modern world, national cuisine is an element of a state’s domestic and foreign policy—a form of so-called “soft power” that helps spread the influence of the country to which that cuisine belongs.
Russian cuisine, the Russian language as our country’s official language, as well as the shared memory and victory of our multinational people in the Great Patriotic War play a crucial unifying role for the many peoples of Russia.
These are quotes from the guidelines for organizing the All-Russian Festival of Russian Cuisine. A year ago, they were developed by a working group of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
The authors of the guidelines acknowledge that over the past three decades, cuisines from other countries have effectively displaced Russian cuisine in the Russian economy: as of 2025, there are more than 200,000 food service establishments in the Russian Federation; of these, less than 1% in the “cuisine” category are listed as “Russian cuisine” or “cuisines of the peoples of Russia.”
The blame for this, as one might easily guess, lies with the West and its “economic expansion and the imposition of a systematic denial of the pre-imperial, imperial, and then Soviet periods.”
They didn’t stop at a culinary guide in Moscow. In October 2025, work began in earnest in Russia to develop GOST standards for Russian cuisine. Experts—historians, restaurateurs, and culinary researchers—were brought in to assist.
It was then that the Belarusians were made to understand that Russians are more attached to their own version of shchi. Authors from *Rossiyskaya Gazeta* prepared a special feature for the *Soyuz* newspaper supplement, distributed in Belarus alongside a publication by the Lukashenko administration.
The article uses specific examples to explain how the standards of Russian cuisine differ from those of Belarusian cuisine. For example, Belarusians often prepare shchi using potatoes and grains, incorporating smoked or salted meats and vegetables that give the dish a richer flavor. None of this is typical of Russia.
The uniqueness of Belarusian national cuisine has long been recognized even by ordinary Russians traveling through our country.
As an example—one of many reviews about the star of the Belarusian table for guests from Russia:
“Draniki are pancakes made from grated potatoes. I’ve never seen them prepared the way they are in Belarus anywhere else. This dish will be delicious at any restaurant. They’re served with sour cream, mushrooms, salted fish, sour jam, baked apples, and vegetables.”
And, by the way, draniki—which have counterparts in Lithuanian, Polish, and German cuisines (but not Russian)—firmly connect us to the European culinary tradition.