Royal Martyrs’ favorite dishes prepared for Ekaterinburg Lenten festival

The IV Annual Lenten Cuisine festival was held on Saturday in the in the Ural Center for Design Development in Ekaterinburg. The event is always well-received by the Ekaterinburg festival, and this year’s event was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Nicholas II and the theme “Lenten Dishes of the Royal Table,” which included the Royal Martyrs’ favorite dishes, reports the Ekaterinburg Diocese.

 The festival is traditionally held with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Ekaterinburg and Verkhotursk, with the support of the administration of the Sverdlovsk Province.  

This year’s festival gathered the employees and heads of churches, monasteries, cafes, restaurants, and educational institutions of the Ekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Province, as well as well-known politicians and public figures, some of whom taught master classes on Lenten cooking.

The festival was opened by His Grace Bishop Evgeny of the Middle Urals, vicar of the Diocese of Ekaterinburg. “It is always very gratifying when the fast comes. We await not only the bright Resurrection of Christ, but also a good fast, in which it has already become a tradition to hold the Lenten cuisine festival,” the bishop said. This year, he emphasized, through the foods prepared, “we have the chance to touch another facet of the life of the Royal Family. I wish it to bring us joy—the common joy of a common work, and the memories of having touched the lives of holy people.”     

Valentina Ponomareva, one of the organizers of the festival and head chef at the “Imperial” spiritual-educational center’s refectory, spoke before the festival at a press conference about some of the Royal Family’s favorite dishes that were planned for the festival.     

“We will prepare kissel—it’s a great item that Nicholas II’s family preferred. It’s made from oats with honey and cinnamon added… We have prepared kalachi with yeast-free sourdough, which was on the table for Tsar Nichoals II’s breakfast… But before they started the meal, the Royal Family’s spiritual father always stood and read a prayer, and the others prayed with him,” Ponomareva said, according to TASS.

She also noted that the tsar’s favorite dessert was cookies with oatmeal, nuts, and raisins, sprinkled with powdered sugar. The family also loved vinaigrette salad, mushroom broth, baked potatoes with mushrooms, baked cabbage stuffed rice and mushrooms, as well as baked apples for dessert.

This year also marks the centenary of the killing of the holy Royal Martyrs, which took place in Ekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.

Source: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru