black pepper, and food had a generally mild taste. There were no differences between breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals. Lunch was always consumed with a soup as a first course. A tradition of a "fish day" on Thursdays, when fish or other seafood was consumed instead of meat, was started in State-run canteens and cafeterias to alleviate a shortage of meat, but nevertheless filtered to many private households. The common approach, which still somewhat holds today in Russia is: eat a lot at each meal, few times a day. Eat nothing between meals – the reason for this was that the State-run eateries in the Soviet time was largely under the control of doctors, and the medical wisdom at the time was that snacking between major meals would ruin the appetite (especially for children) and will lead to indigestion and intestinal distress. A typical lunch meal could consist of chicken-broth-based soup or borscht for a first course and fried meatballs or goulash served with boiled potatoes or buckwheat porridge as a main course. Butter or sour cream was typically used as a sauce. Holiday meals were typically derived from old French and Russian cuisines with extensive use of heavy sauces, marinated meats, and melted cheese. Mixing ingredients and extensive cooking was common, just as in classic French cuisine. Generally, much effort was made in order to prepare such meals. Often, the richness of a holiday table was an issue of honor for the family. Typical dishes Zakuski and salads Olivier (also known as Russian salad) Herring under a fur coat Kholodets Vinegret (from French vinaigrette) - red beet root salad with onions, pickles, boiled potatoes, carrots, dressed with sunflower oil. Vitaminniy salat (Vitamin salad) - a cabbage-based salad with seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, etc. Various pickles, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, ramsons, and mushrooms. Sauerkraut mixed with carrots and served as a salad. Morkovcha (also known as "Korean carrot salad") - a spicy carrot salad (a Koryo-saram dish). First course Borscht - (Ukrainian) Chicken noodle soup Kharcho Okroshka Pacha - (Armenian/Azerbaijani/Georgian) Pea soup Rassolnik Shchi - (Russian) Solyanka Sorrel soup Ukha Second course Beef Stroganoff Chicken Kiev (Russian) - a filled chicken cutlet Cutlet or meat ball Various kinds of dumplings, like pelmeni (Russian), vareniki (Ukrainian), or manti (Central Asian) Goulash, ragout, or another kind of stew Golubtsy - cabbage rolls stuffed with rice and meat and served