Russia: Kremlin canteens cater to fasting officials
Moscow, 24 February.
The canteens of the Kremlin, the Government House and other state establishments will cater to fasting employees. The Russian president's Administrative Department spokesman Viktor Khrekov told RIA-Novosti that the department's catering services are doing their best to follow the Orthodox traditions. Therefore, lenten dishes will be available during the Lent in all the canteens, not only at the Presidential Administration, but also in the Government House, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. The Lent begins on Monday [23 February], but since this is a day off, a special section listing lenten dishes will appear in the canteen menues of the Kremlin and other state institutions from Tuesday. Thus, Tuesday's menue will feature the "Health" cabbage salad, carrots with honey and nuts, lenten borsch with mushrooms, buckwheat porridge and Bukhara pilaff with dried fruits, Khrekov said. These dishes are not very expensive - from R5 to R10 - because of the cheapness of the ingredients: as is well known, dishes containing meat are among the most expensive. The lenten menu is very popular and a quarter of the visitors opt for it, Khrekov added. The production manager of the catering service of the Government House, Zoya Romanova, said that the lenten menu is a recent feature in Russian catering establishments and is very popular on Krasnopresnenskaya naberezhnaya [embankment, the Government House address]. Dishes made with vegetables, groats and mushrooms are very successful even with those who are not fasting. The Federation Council and the State Duma canteens are also expected to offer a special lenten menu for the duration of the Lent.
[RIA news agency]