Первое и Юля

Today is the 1st of July, and a friend of mine shared this meme based on a homophone - “первое июля” VS “первое и Юля”. What’s up with little Yulia? Does she dislike her soup? What about you? Is soup part of your country’s culinary tradition? 

Well, how about talking a bit about eating traditions in Russia and learning a few new words?

Little Yulia is crying over her первое. Grammatically, it’s a neuter adjective that stands for the phrase первое блюдо - the first course, which is usually soup. It’s considered to be healthy, but children often don’t like it. I wonder why! As you can easily guess, the second (main) course is called второе. It usually consists of meat or fish with some garnish, and we sometimes refer to it as горячее (the hot dish). In a restaurant you’d be also offered a dessert, but if you eat at home, you will likely finish your lunch with a drink - tea or coffee. Homemade компот is a must for children!

All that was about обед, which, unlike lunch in English, is not tied to a particular time but is the biggest meal of the day.

I promise I’m not trying to make you feel hungry - let’s devour interesting facts about food-related vocabulary! What other meals do we have in Russia?

Завтрак starts the day. It sounds so similar to завтра that you might wonder why you have tomorrow’s meal this morning. In fact, завтрак comes from the old Russian заутрок - the morning food.

Полдник -  even though the word is derived from полдень, it is a light snack between обед and ужин, usually between 4 and 5 pm. I’m not pulling your leg! :) There are two possible explanations. One suggests that this meal actually used to be at noon, but as people’s lifestyles changed over the centuries, they started to have this snack in the afternoon instead, while keeping the same word for it. Another popular idea is that for the farmers in the past, 4pm was the middle of their work day.

Ужин is the last meal of the day. Russian-English dictionaries often translate this word as supper, but I don’t think it’s very common nowadays, not in the US anyway. 

In conclusion, I want to share a piece of wisdom from the famous 1700s Russian general Alexander Suvorov: Завтрак съешь сам, обед раздели с другом, а ужин отдай врагу. Eat breakfast yourself, share lunch with a friend, and give dinner to your enemy. What do you think it means? Do you agree? Share your ideas in the comments!