Who are Modern Belarusians?

At first glance the Belarusians do not differ from other Europeans in everyday life. The processes of globalization inevitably affect the lives of people around the world – people in different countries use the same brands of clothes, food, drive the same cars, go to the same stores.

However, the Belarusians managed to preserve their distinctive characteristics.

The Belarusian character is distinguished by patience and hard work. The people of Belarus are usually reserved in public, but very friendly and hospitable in personal contacts.

As far as cuisine is concerned, potato (in Belarusian – bulba) is probably the most popular product in Belarus. It is well-known the potato came to Europe from America, but, according to FAO, it is Belarus that is the first country in the world in terms of per capita potato consumption: 181 kg per year, nearly half a kilogram a day. The country is also among the top ten world potato producers, along with such giants as China, Russia, and the United States. Belarusians are the only who know more than 200 bulba dish recipes: draniki, baked, boiled, fried, stewed or mashed potatoes, comy, babka or dranka, potato dumplings, kolduny, crepes, gulbishniki, potato pancakes, soups, zapekanki, pirozhki, etc.

A typical Belarusian meal is served with a rye or wheat bread. At lunchtime soup (borshch, shchy (cabbage soup), solyanka, etc.) is popular. In Belarus there is a wide variety of meat products from pork, beef and poultry, which are admired by Belarusians and exported in large quantities. It applies to numerous dairy products and cheeses as well.

Traditional drinks such as birch sap, honey or bread kvass are widespread.