2013 SU Update: Universiade Village Residents sample National Cuisines

KAZAN – The traditional national cuisine cooking contest ‘National Dishes of the World’ took place in the UniversiadeVillage. The panel of judges made up of gourmets of the Village’s administration were treated to a great variety of national cuisines.

Under the terms of the contest, each team was to present their unusual home-made national dishes. The panel sampled Greek moussaka, Uzbek pilaff, Russian okroshka (a cold soup made from cucumber, kvass, radish, dill, egg, and meat), meat à la Française, Japanese sushi, Turkish dessert revani (a semolina cake with syrup) and many other famous dishes.

Young cooks charmed the panel with their dishes and a creative presentation of their national cuisine:to carry the traditions of this or that country even closer to the audience, they danced, sang songs and delivered various performances. The cooks presenting Tatar cuisine were dancing so enthusiastically that they infected spectators and judges with the desire to dance as well. The atmosphere was incredible, it was a true international feast!

Having sampled all dishes, the panel of judges admitted that all of the recipes were delightful. But still the first prize went to Tatar and Uzbek cuisines, cooks that had presented Ukrainian, French and Russian cuisines placed second, Japanese and Italian dishes were awarded bronze.

Leysan Mingalimova, one of the winners of the contest, confessed that it took their team a few days to get ready for the cooking contest. «We were inspired by the the Uzbek movie ‘Superbride’ where the main character learns more about Uzbekistan’s culture and cuisine. About ten people were involved in cooking the dishes. We’ve been looking for spices needed for the pilaff for a long time, but the toughest challenge for us was to find a true Uzbek qozon (a cooking pot)», the young cook said.

All participants were awarded Kazan 2013-logoed souvenirs and also free entrance tickets to the Burevestnik Swimming Pool.

«We live in the 21st century, it’s the century of speed. But no one could have ever visited the world’s most popular countries and got acquainted with their traditions at such high speed. It’s possible only in theUniversiadeVillage!», said the Mayor of the Universiade Village Farid Abdulganiev in his summing-up speech.

(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)