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RECIPES OF THE REGION: Russian Orthodox family makes mushroom soup, keeps traditions alive in Kingston

Laura Grzywacz makes soup for Russian Christmas Eve.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
Laura Grzywacz makes soup for Russian Christmas Eve.

On a cold December night, mushroom soup boils on the stove.

The process is reminiscent of the traditions of a family’s Russian ancestors generations before them.

Food unites people from diverse cultures, backgrounds & ages like nothing else.  Join us at the table as we serve up generations of family recipes, traditions & memories in our new series, Recipes of the Region.

Laura Grzywacz and Pamela Fendrock prepared the soup for their family’s Veliye, or the Holy Supper observed on Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve.

While many Christians celebrate Christmas, or the birth of Jesus Christ, on Dec. 25, the Russian Orthodox church are still followers of the Julian Calendar and celebrate the holiday on Jan. 7. The traditional Julian calendar is about two weeks behind the Gregorian, the calendar used by most of the world.

Grzywacz and Fendrock’s Christmas Eve won’t come until Jan. 6. They’ll freeze the soup for now, but they are prepping it early, ticking at least one of the 12 dishes required of the Holy Supper off their to-do list.

The meal is somber, in preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s free of meat, dairy and most seasonings. The soup is simple, based on only the most simple ingredients that could be found even generations ago during a harsh Russian winter.

The Holy Supper preempts a great feast the following day to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ. But before his birthday, they reflect on the sacrifices of Jesus’s mother, Mary, as well as their ancestors and the sacrifices they made in leaving their home country for the United States.

Interpreting the 12 foods
A study done by Pew Research Center in 2017 found that approximately 12% of Christians around the world are Orthodox in the 21st century.

The 12 dishes are symbolic of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ from the New Testament.

The foods represented in the meal are: mushrooms, sauerkraut, lenten bread, garlic, honey, herring or white fish, pierogi, prunes, salt, bobalki (small pieces of dough), beans and wine.

“If you were to poll 10 families, they would probably have slightly different variations on this meal, because every family has a little bit of a variation that's evolved over time,” Fendrock said.

The family’s interpretation of the 12 ingredients are (in order of serving): honey and bread, prune bread, garlic, pea soup, mushroom soup, lima bean and prune soup, sauerkraut soup, pierogi, bobalki, fish and fruit compote. There are various types of fish and pierogi that add up to 12.

The cousins have been eating the mushroom soup and their family’s other takes on the foods for as long as they can remember. Fendrock thinks it has to do with the economic status of the family when they immigrated to the United States, as the ingredients are easily accessible and inexpensive.

“Generally we came from not wealthy people,” she said. “It's all very sort of simple food. So that's what would have been available. And the meal is supposed to be simple because it's the day before Christ was born, so it's preparation for that.”

The recipe takes about 15 minutes to prep. After sautéing garlic and onions with olive oil at the bottom of a pot, chopped parsley and celery, mushrooms, tomatoes and vegetable broth are combined into the pot. They typically let the soup cook for one hour on the stove.

When they were growing up, the mushroom soup was made with a special type of mushroom called “popinki.” Their grandparents picked them in the woods surrounding their Lackawanna County homes.

The art of mushroom harvesting wasn’t passed on, and popinkies are difficult to find in stores. So as a replacement, Grzywacz uses straw mushrooms, which have a similar texture. Grzywacz typically buys them in the Asian section of any grocery store.

Throughout the 12 courses, the same bowl is used to eat all four soups, and then the same plate for the remaining courses of fish, pierogies and fruit compote. The mushroom soup comes early in the Holy Supper lineup – served between pea soup and lima bean and prune soup.

In earlier renditions of the family’s Veliye, they would pass around just one bowl, and everyone would eat their fill of soup out of that same bowl using the same spoon.

“[The] communal bowl, I think that's part of the togetherness and coming together as one,” Fendrock said.

The family has since abandoned but still honors that part of the tradition. They serve all of the soups out of one serving bowl into a single bowl. It’s up to each person to clean their bowl in preparation for the next round.

Biblical symbolism

The table is set plainly. There are no seasonings – not even salt or pepper shakers.

“A white tablecloth, symbolic of Christ’s swaddling clothes, covers the table,” according to notes in their aunt’s recipe book. “Hay is placed under the table cloth to symbolize the manger in which the Christ Child was laid and as a reminder of the poverty of the cave where Jesus was born. A tall white candle is placed in the center of the table, symbolic of Christ.”

Bread dipped in honey with a clove of raw garlic starts off the meal. The honey symbolizes the sweetness of life. The garlic counters it with the bitterness of life.

The fruit compote was an add-on from Fendrock’s grandparents who wanted to end the meal on a sweet note but still honor the symbolic nature of the meal, adding a unique twist to their family rendition and breaking from tradition.

“I believe when my grandmother and grandfather added the fruit compote, they said, that makes it 13, so that Jesus is now added. So it's 12 apostles and Jesus,” she said.

Everyone is required to eat at least a little bit of everything. The only exception to that rule is an allergy. There are no bathroom breaks. The only people to get up are the designated servers.

Some of the dishes, like sauerkraut soup or lima bean and prune soup, are not fan favorites, especially for the younger ones at the table.

“Everybody [does] the meal just like it was started by the generation above us,” Grzywacz said. “It was just known that this is what you do.”

They know people might question the Holy Supper menu. Still, they are grateful for the tradition and the tether to their culture.

“Like the food or don't like the food, that's pretty neat,” Fendrock said.

Preserving tradition
The women are several generations removed from their Russian ancestors.

Growing up, Fendrock’s grandmother would host the meal. When her grandmother got sick, her aunt took over. For years, her aunt bore sole responsibility for the meal. Then, Fendrock and her sisters stepped in. They wanted to learn the recipes to teach the next generation.

Pam Fendrock and Laura Grywacz discuss Russian Christmas Eve dinner.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
Pam Fendrock and Laura Grywacz discuss Russian Christmas Eve dinner.

“Each year, we would decide someone would make a different dish,” she said. “That way, it's not all on you, and we would all learn it, and we could carry on the tradition.”

She’s moved to see the generation after her take interest in being the next stewards of the Holy Supper tradition.

“It's pretty neat to see my nieces and nephews still want to carry this on,” she said. “That warms my heart that they still want to do this. It's beautiful. It's really beautiful.”

With their grandparents and parents gone, the meal connects them to the generations before them and the heritage they brought with them.

“It's lovely,” Grzywacz said. “I'm so thrilled to be part of it, to be included in it. I just really enjoy the meal, the camaraderie, the coming together with the soups and all the foods of the holiday season, and we get to celebrate together.”

Pam Fendrock pointed out her mothers' Christmas decor that she uses in her house while the soup cooked. She uses these houses, among other decorations,
Lydia McFarlane
/
WVIA News
Pam Fendrock pointed out her mothers' Christmas decor that she uses in her house while the soup cooked. She uses these houses, among other decorations, to remind her of her mother during the holiday season.
Mushroom soup
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- 1 quart, straw mushrooms
- ½ quart tomatoes
- 8 quarts water or vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp sauerkraut juice (optional)
- 1 onion sautéed
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 stalk parsley

Instructions:
  1. Sautée onions and garlic in olive oil at the bottom of a large pot
  2. Chop celery and parsley
  3. Strain and rinse mushrooms
  4. Combine ingredients into large pot with sautéed onions and garlic
  5. Let cook on stove for 1 hou

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