Belarus
Potato Zrazy
Картапляныя зразы
Potato patties stuffed with mushroom or minced meat, pan-fried to a crust; Belarus's answer to what to do with leftover mash.
eastern-europe
Belarus
Explore 58 foods connected to Belarus, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
58 foods12 leading categories1 Essentials guides
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The local shortlist
Belarus Essentials
10 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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The full directory
Traditional foods from Belarus.
58 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Belarus
Saladukha
Саладуха
Rye flour mashed with malt and left to go sweet and slightly sour, then drunk thick — half beverage, half dessert, and a Lent standby.
Russia
Salo
Сало
Salo is cured pork fatback, salted and sometimes smoked, and eaten with bread, garlic, and black pepper.
Russia
Shchi
Щи
Shchi is a Russian cabbage soup made with sour cabbage, meat, and mushrooms, often served with rye bread.
Belarus
Smazhanka
Смажанка
An open-faced round of yeast dough baked under melted cheese with sausage, mushrooms or ham, sold hot from bakery counters and kiosks for small change.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Smetana
Сметана
Thick soured cream of Eastern Slavic kitchens, richer than Western sour cream and spooned over nearly everything savoury.
Belarus
Smoked Goose Breast
Паўгускі
Goose breast salted, pressed and cold-smoked over alder, once a Jewish and gentry delicacy of the north-west and now a niche farm product.
Belarus
Soured Cabbage
Квашаная капуста
Cabbage shredded, salted and left to ferment in barrels with carrot, caraway and often cranberries, eaten as a salad and cooked into soups all winter.
Belarus
Spartak Chocolate
Спартак
Homel's chocolate factory, in production since 1924, best known for its dark bars and for the wafer sweets sold loose by weight everywhere in the country.
Belarus
Starka
Старка
Rye spirit aged in oak with lime blossom and apple leaves until it turns amber, a north-eastern speciality once buried in barrels at a child's birth and drunk at their wedding.
Belarus
Sugared Cranberries
Журавіны ў цукры
Whole cranberries rolled in a shell of icing sugar and glucose so they crack sour under a sweet crust — a supermarket confection everyone brings home.
Belarus
Swede Soup
Грыжанка
Swede and carrot stewed down in milk with a little flour until sweet and thick, one of the root soups that carried Belarusian villages through late winter.
Russia
Syrniki
Сырники
Fried patties of tvorog, egg and a little flour, golden outside and creamy within, eaten for breakfast or dessert.
Podlasie, Lithuania
Tree Cake
Šakotis
A spit cake grilled layer by layer into a distinctive branching tree shape, a centerpiece of Lithuanian weddings.
Russia
Tvorog
Творог
Tvorog is Russian cottage cheese or quark, drier and grainier than Western cottage cheese, with a slightly sour taste.
Hrodna, Belarus
Vereshchaka
Верашчака
The older, sourer ancestor of machanka: pork and sausage stewed in bread kvass with onion and caraway until the liquor turns tart. A Grand Duchy recipe revived by Minsk restaurants.
Belarus
Vinegret
Вінегрет
Diced beet salad with potato, carrot, pickled cucumber, sauerkraut and onion dressed with sunflower oil; the everyday starter of all three East Slavic cuisines.
Vitebsk, Belarus
Vitebsk Rye
Віцебскі хлеб
A scalded-rye loaf from Vitebsk, darker and stickier in the crumb than ordinary rye, with a faint sweetness from the fermented mash.
Belarus
Zhur
Жур
Sour soup built on oat or rye flour left to ferment for days, then boiled out with smoked pork ribs and potatoes into something between a broth and a thin porridge.
Polissya, Ukraine
Zrazy
Зрази
Zrazy are Ukrainian formed or rolled meat patties with a savoury filling, browned and served hot.
Belarus
Zubrowka
Зуброўка
Rye vodka infused with a blade of bison grass from the Belavezhskaya Pushcha, which turns it pale green and gives it a hay-and-vanilla scent.
Poland
Łazanki
Лазанкі
A Polish dish of small, square pasta noodles tossed with cabbage, mushrooms, or poppy seeds. A rustic, home-cooked classic, hearty and savory, a traditional dish, served warm.