Russian Bread

Landowner Levin in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina in whom we can see the features of the author himself helps the farmers with the hay-making and sits down to lunch with them. And what do they eat? Rye bread with salt and kvass. And there was nothing like that in the world, as the author says.

Besides literature there are also statistics. Before the revolution the per capita annual consumption of meat was on average 29 kg and of bread - 200 kg. But practically every Russian peasant consumed about 20 kg of meat per year and more than 200 kg of bread.

Bread and kvass were basic products of peasant's diet, and they both were made from rye. Rye provided man not only with food but also with a roof over his head for its firm long straw was used as a building material. In the areas where forests were rare, straw and clay were used to make the "saman" from which the walls of the house were built.

The roof of rye straw served as a reserve of food for the cattle in spring. The straw was also used to cover the floor of the cattle sheds keeping them hygienic and warm. Lastly, rye plays a sanitary role in the field for it doesn’t allow the weeds to grow.

Rye comes from the Mediterranean, Asia and Southern Africa where it was a weed. But the Russian farmer used rye because it was not afraid of frosts and droughts and could grow on poor sandy soils. It quickly conquered the Russian field.

The black bread is unusual even for the Ukranians, but in West­ern Europe it is simply exotic. We, Russians, can't think about dinner without black bread.

The first people who grew rye were the ancient Celts. They used to make beer and also ate gruel made of crushed rye seeds mixed with water.

Rye is grown on only 8,000,000 of the total 130,000,000 hec­tares of sown land while wheat has taken over nearly a half of all areas. This is easily explained. The yields of wheat are much high­er than those of rye. Besides straw isn't used any longer as build­ing material. People drink less kvass now than before. The cattle are fed with wheat grain. And the main thing is that the consump­tion of bread in Russia is becoming less and less. Now meat, milk, fresh vegetables and fruit are the main things in people's diet. Now per capita annual bread consumption has gone down to 140 kg (1913 - 200 kg).

III. Answer the questions.

1. What were the main products of peasant’s diet?

2. What did rye provide man with?

3. What is the main role of rye in the fields?

4. Where does rye come from?

5. Who was the first one growing rye?

6. Why is the consumption of bread in Russia becoming less nowadays?

IV. Find English equivalents.

На 1 человека; черты самого автора; ежегодное потребление мяса; основные продукты крестьянской диеты; крыша над головой; как строительный материал; резерв пищи для скота; пол сараев; не позволять сорнякам расти; не боялясь мороза и засухи; завоевала русские поля; половина всей площади; урожай пшеницы.

V. Compare the consumption of rye and wheat nowadays and before the revolution of 1917. Write down the comparison in the table.