During the event, St. Petersburg's cuisine traditions were presented to the consular officers accredited in St. Petersburg, and they were offered to be taken into account when organizing visits of foreign delegations in our city.
During the event, St. Petersburg's cuisine traditions were presented to the consular officers accredited in St. Petersburg, and they were offered to be taken into account when organizing visits of foreign delegations in our city.
The reception was attended by the representatives of the consular officers accredited in St. Petersburg, the heads of St. Petersburg cultural institutions, the representatives of the tourism industry, hoteliers and restaurateurs, the heads of relevant committees of the Administration of St. Petersburg, the heads of the city media.
The main doers of the evening were the leading St. Petersburg restaurants that have included in their menus and originally converted the historical recipes of XVIII and XIX centuries. Among these restaurants: "Severyanin", "Metropol", "Akyan", "F. M. Dostoevsky", "Literary Café", "Tsar", "Ambassador".
Chefs of the restaurants personally made a presentation of their dishes, they told about famous stories, due to which the dish became popular, and shared some secrets of cooking.
The Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, E.D. Grigoriev, especially noted during his welcoming speech that food traditions are an integral part of the image of any city. And St. Petersburg can be proud of its culinary heritage. No wonder, even in XVIII - XIX centuries St. Petersburg was also considered to be the culinary capital of Russia.
Y.B. Demidenko, the Deputy Director for Research of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, and the author of the book "Restaurants, taverns, tea houses. From history of food services in St. Petersburg of XVIII - early XX century", has confirmed that St. Petersburg (which was called "Window to Europe", but which at the same time was also a window "From Europe to Russia") was exactly the one that transferred new products and cooking technology to our country. Yulia Demidenko cited the example of the most luxurious and famous dish of the St. Petersburg court table - sterlet (sturgeon) boiled in champagne.
Anyone who read "The Count of Monte Cristo" remembers the dinner when the table of a former prisoner of the Chateau d'If was served with Volga sturgeon ... Also the famous romantic Theophile Gautier who visited Russia in the middle of 19th century left a very flattering opinion about this dish in his memoirs. He wrote: "In France, I regret this loss, because the sterlet dish is worthy of the finest gourmet. One piece of the Volga sterlet on elegant fork is worth traveling (to Russia - ed.) "...
As the continuation of the historical journey, the guests were invited to taste the famous dishes. In addition to the sterlet boiled in champagne, the evening menu included salad Stroganoff, Nikolay winter cabbage soup with patties and liqueur, julienne in crepes with mushroom sauce, whitefish with bulgur wheat and honey sauce and others. Each dish was accompanied by a small annotation to its history and taste characteristics.
The tasting of dishes and discussion, as well as chat with the chefs and exploration of the gastronomic traditions of the old St. Petersburg, all this perhaps the first time in recent history has made "cuisine" the main theme of the diplomatic reception, rather than its complement.
All the guests agreed that St. Petersburg's cuisine is indeed the real phenomenon that can become an integral part of the brand of the city.
The actors of Moroshka Russian Folk Theater helped to visualize the image of an old Petersburg. Suits of food servers from the beginning of the century, fake spoons and forks, stylized newspapers and colorful dance and musical performances, as well as old mansion interiors themselves concisely and holistically fleshed out the concept of the evening.
Reference:
The "Petersburg cuisine" project is developed by the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg within the mandate to promote a positive image of St. Petersburg abroad and in Russian regions.
The project is being implemented with the support of the Governor of St. Petersburg, Georgy Poltavchenko, together with a number of executive authorities of St. Petersburg (the Committee for Tourism Development of St. Petersburg, the Committee for Entrepreneurship and Consumer Market Development of St. Petersburg, Archival committee of St. Petersburg etc.), as well as interested partner organizations.