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A Feast of Observations: The British Within the Alimentary Contact Zones of Nineteenth-Century Russian Imperial Frontiers

Authors
  • Martirosyan, Arman
Publication Date
Aug 30, 2024
Source
HAL
Keywords
Language
English
License
Unknown
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Abstract

British people traveling to the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century encountered its truly multiethnic composition. In the South Caucasus they were introduced, for instance, to Georgian viticulture, often served in Armenian inns, suggesting a culinary contact zone. Cultural contacts were equally seen in the Crimean Peninsula: the Greeks were wine, tobacco, and cabbage cultivators; the Russians made the kvas drink from local fruits dried by the Tatars; and the Germans used wild wines for ornamentation to be sold in markets. These peculiarities did not escape British travel writers. Identification of cultural difference and establishment of national superiority are reflected in the “greediness” of the Crimean Tatars, who “devour” their food, suggesting savage-like habits in Mary Holderness’s New Russia: journey from Riga to the Crimea (1823). Age and social class attract commentary too: Holderness remarks that although both sexes partake in tobacco smoking, elderly Crimean women abstain; and though a Circassian servant is not to drink alcohol (Robert Lyall, Travels in Russia, the Krimea, the Caucasus, and Georgia, 1825), the “leading trait” of Tatar servants is their “gross immorality and love of drunkenness.” Food is also used as an allegory to establish the superiority of Christianity over Islam, with William Glen qualifying the former as “nutritive” and the latter “unwholesome” (Journal of a tour from Astrachan to Karass, north of the mountains of the Caucasus, 1823). Moreover, foodways reflected religious beliefs: Ebenezer Henderson (Biblical researches and travels in Russia, 1826) is astonished that Crimean Greeks use cherry trees to hang religious rags and that “superstitious” Armenians place peace-offering foods for an ill family member. Culinary descriptions gave these authors legitimacy and “proved” that they had immersed themselves in the local life. This paper aims to discuss how the abovementioned British travelers chronicled their observations on food/drink habits based on gender, class, age, and religious belonging, including their own.

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