An Ode to Wodka!

Lovely little piece in the paper the other day: Country, Vodka and Sour Cream. Includes some impressions of Brighton Beach as well as a general tutorial excerpt from A History of Vodka by William Pokhlebkin, which I need to get...clearly.

There are no bars for us to visit in Brighton because they are anathema to the Russian manner of drinking. Pokhlebkin, perhaps the most passionate and erudite defender of vodka consumption in recorded history, notes that "the correct role of vodka at a table drink is to accompany and to highlight exclusively Russian national dishes. Above all, vodka is the appropriate drink with meat and meat-cereal dishes, with salty and sharp-tasting dishes, and with fish." No less than the Italians or French, Russians treat drinking as part of a complete gastronomic experience, and divorcing the two would be unthinkable for anyone with a modicum of taste. But perhaps because our foods are less sensuous or readily appealing than Mediterranean cuisine ― sour cream is not so sexy, it turns out ― only the bottle lingers in the imagination.

My last jaunt to Brighton Beach had more sharp-tasting dishes than I could name!