Hey, if you love potatoes whether they are boiled, fried, mashed or whatever, don’t just pass by! Pop in here, I’m gonna tell you about the national cuisine of Belarus!

The first site worth seeing is the monument devoted to the Potato erected in Minsk on the prospect of Winners! People say that everyone who rubs the monument can expect a good harvest or, at least, riches. The opening ceremony of the monument coincided with the 150th Anniversary of the first harvest of the potato. Today the potato is the essential course at the table of every single Belarusian. And it would be stupid of the guests of the city not to try the incredibly delicious dishes made of potatoes. Not without reason, the people of adjoining countries call the Belarusians “bulbashi” (derivative of the Belarusian “bulba” which means “potato”).

Are you already eager to taste the famous potato dishes? Don’t rush to a restaurant; locals don’t like visiting such places because they think that no one – not even the best chefs - is able to prepare the yummy dishes Belarusian women cook at home.

Don’t ask the hostess to make all of her potato recipes; I’m afraid that you won’t have enough time even just to taste everything. Some even say that Belarusian people know more than a thousand dishes made from potatoes!

Well let’s begin with the soup. It can be either hot or cold; both can be made with meat, without meat, with grains, or with vegetables. Of course, the only thing it will definitely include is potato. That’s the “jour” soup (cooked from the oats extract) or soup “capusty” (thick soup made of cabbage with some sour milk). Whichever soup you choose, it will probably be thick and sodden, and almost homogenous just like the most of national Belarusian dishes. It happens this way due to the long-lasting and complicated cooking technique: first the product gets fried and/or boiled, and then it’s cooled, or stewed and cooled down again. The process of cooking a “right” soup may take up to 3 days! This complicated process causes the fermentation to start giving the dishes their special gustatory and nutritional features.

And what are some of the simple dishes made of potato only? To name a few: potato zrazi (fried, mashed and stuffed potato), draniki (little crispy pancakes made of grated potato), kartoflyaniki (something like salty cookies made of potato batter), potato drachena, potato croquets, village-style potato and much, much more! Often potatoes are cooked with mushrooms.

Belarusian people really like fish. They either roast it without scaling it or dry it in a special manner after frying it a little and mince it before adding into dumplings.

A lot of courses are made from meat: mostly pork, sometimes mutton, and rarely beef. Belarusian people use pork mostly for the home-made wursts and vyandlina, smoked ham, or something else. Lean pork or mutton is roasted as a single massive piece (gammon or the whole bottom part of the pig or sheep). Such a dish is called “pyachisty”.

Dairy products of Belarus (curd, sour cream, butter) are really delicious too, but you’ll mainly taste them as parts of other dishes.

There are hardly any sweets in the national Belarusian cuisine, except for various compotes and kissels. Belarusian traditional beverages are the birch and maple saps and kvass made using these saps.

Alright, time to finish our tour which, unfortunately, was quite quick-handed. But first, don’t forget to taste potato dishes right in Belarus! Only here, due to the special natural and climatic conditions, grows the incredibly delicious potato. That’s why Belarusian traditional courses are never that tasty outside the country.