A Taste of Turkmen Shchi in Russia: Chekdyrme Sampled at the "Ivanovo Cabbage Festival"
An interesting and delicious event—a "green shchi" (cabbage soup) festival—took place in the city of Ivanovo. This year, the soup was prepared using various recipes, but the biggest surprise for guests at the "Ivanovo Cabbage Festival" was the Turkmen version.
Visitors could sample it at the "Turkmenistan" pavilion, set up by residents of the village of Ozerny (part of the Ivanovo district). As I learned, a Turkmen family lives there; they provided traditional headscarves and jewelry for the festival participants, while the villagers themselves prepared the Turkmen dish.
They decided to make chekdyrme. This dish contains no cabbage; instead, one of the recipes calls for orache or spinach. For the meat, they used the authentic choice—lamb—which is a real rarity in our area. The result was delicious. The soup was served with sour cream, and flatbread was also available. The chekdyrme was snapped up quickly.
They were prepared by Olga Bragina, the head of the local village cultural center. Here is what she told the ORIENT website:
"The main dish of the "Ivanovo Cabbage Festival" is, of course, shchi (cabbage soup). This year, the celebration was dedicated to the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, so we cooked dishes based on various ethnic recipes. A family from Turkmenistan living in Ozerny—who cherish their traditions—told us about spinach dishes. I found a recipe for chekdyrma. We had all the right ingredients; after all, we raise lambs here in Ozerny, too."
There was also a Turkmen element in the giant hat contest. Amidst the tubeteikas (skullcaps) and traditional headwear of the Kazakh, Chuvash, and other peoples, there was an installation themed around the takhya (traditional Turkmen skullcap)—made of straw, admittedly, but featuring authentic national patterns.
Another highlight of the festival was the weighing of giant vegetables. There were pumpkins straight out of the Cinderella fairy tale, equally massive zucchinis, as well as watermelons and heads of cabbage. Speaking of cabbage heads...
This year, the "Ivanovo Cabbage Festival" featured a game where participants had to guess their own weight in cabbages. A giant scale was set up for the purpose: a person would stand on one side, while heads of cabbage were placed on the other. Whoever guessed the weight correctly won a prize. A head of cabbage, of course!
The highlight of the festival was the "Cabbage Chop-Off." To prepare shchanitsa (finely chopped green cabbage leaves), the organizers set up the longest trough in Russia.
Anyone interested could step up, grab a chopping tool, and mince the cabbage heads and carrots. Participants salted the resulting mixture and took it home to cook green cabbage soup, all while keeping the festival’s motto in mind: "Cook the shchi to draw the guests in!"
The choice of cabbage for the festival in the Ivanovsky District was no accident. Legend has it that, in the old days, shchanitsa prepared according to the local recipe was even cooked in Nice.
Alexey KIYASHKO, creator of the travel show "IvanoVO!", Russia
