1 april 2010 - This week there is Russian food on the menu. We have been invited by Elena Karaseva and Yulia Khropova. Both follow the two-year design engineer program Mathematics for Industry. This program is popular among Russians: a third part of the altogether fifteen students is Russian. Yulia: “It is publicity by word of mouth: I heard from another Russian girl what she was doing here and got enthusiastic. It went the same way for the other four.”

We are at home with Elena where the ‘Borsht’ is already on the stove. Borsht is a main course soup, of which beetroots form the main ingredient. “The rest of the ingredients can differ substantially”, Yulia explains. “My grandfather, for one, thinks that there should be absolutely no potatoes in the soup, but I always put them in.” The stock has been made from chicken meat and in addition to beetroots and potatoes it also contains onion and carrot. Apart from the soup Elena and Yulia have also prepared a Russian salad.

While Elena and Yulia talk about the food, more and more people are trickling in. “We dine together almost every Friday night, and everybody brings some food or drinks along”, says Elena. The last one comes in at half past eight, and he has also brought the vodka. Yulia: “Once the vodka is in, we can sit down to dinner, so let’s eat!” We are with eight at the table: five Russians, two Dutchmen and one Indonesian boy.

It soon turns out that the vodka is at least as important as the food itself. Before we start to eat our soup, there are drinks and a toast. We are having a clove of garlic with the soup. Although the exact reason for this is not known, one of the guests, Yulia Ivanova, has an obvious explanation: “Garlic is good for your resistance. As it is often very cold in Russia, we eat garlic with our dinner. Still, vodka is always the best remedy against the cold!” And even though the temperature in the Netherlands is gradually beginning to rise, we are having another glass of vodka during the dinner.

Pepijn Maas is one of the Dutch students and is mostly present at the Russian parties. “I find Russians more united and less sober than the Dutch”, he says. When we go home, this again is a reason to down another glass of vodka. That Russians are less sober than the Dutch is correct then, literally as well as metaphorically speaking. (HB)