The Book Salon 2021 is currently taking place on St. Petersburg’s Palace Square. Now in its 15th year, the international fair is showcasing new books from the CIS countries, Asia and Europe.
Among the many scheduled events is the launch of Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya’s book ‘I’ll Be There for Lunch. My Stories with My Geography’.
In her book, Ekaterina, a writer, photographer, and the famous poet Robert Rozhdestvensky’s daughter, shines the spotlight on her travels to different countries and many dishes she sampled while traveling.
The writer shares her geographical and culinary experiences of the long journey from Tbilisi to Baku, London and Ashgabat. The book features recipes for national dishes from different countries. One of its chapters is devoted to Turkmenistan.
In 2016, Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya visited Turkmenistan as a participant in the International Book Fair entitled ‘Books: A Pathway to Cooperation and Progress’. Many fascinating and amazing discoveries awaited the writer on the trip to our country, and she shares the impressions with her readers:
“During those few days when the book fair took place, not only did we see Ashgabat, but we also traveled a little through the country. For instance, we went to the Glow of the Karakum gas crater nicknamed ‘the door to hell’ by locals. As we were leaving Ashgabat, our driver pulled his car over and we bought special meat patties from a seller, his acquaintance. Called ‘fitchi’ in Turkmen, they look like small flattened cakes with crimped edges but filled with meat and taste incredibly delicious.”
“Our trip to ‘the door to hell’ was long – it took us three and half hours to get to the destination. At last, the driver drove off into the desert and the car got stuck in the sand. We had to walk in the Karakum Desert. The sands were not so scorching hot as the sun was going down. I can hardly imagine living in the desert, but the off-road one-hour-long walk in the heat was good enough and wonderfully romantic.”
“Soon we saw a giant deep pit amidst the barren expanse of sands. There were hundreds or maybe, thousands of flames burning inside the pit from small to big ones as though someone had oiled its walls and set them on fire. The flames rose high into the air, sometimes with the whooshing and roaring sound.”
“We camped out nearby the blazing crater, spread carpets and a tablecloth, and were treated to dograma (small pieces of boiled mutton, traditional flat bread called 'chorek', sliced raw onion served with thick broth) and mullet pilaf (it was the first time I had ever eaten the fish pilaf and it tasted fine), and a tomato and onion salad. All of us were rather full after eating dograma, though. I have never seen such an interesting and filling dish in other countries.”
“…As it grew completely dark, the fiery spectacle looked even more beautiful, hotter and stranger: with bats flying quietly over the enormous gas pit and bright stars twinkling overhead in all their glory. I was lying on the carpet, gazing at the bats and stars and looking for the belt of Orion. I found it. I located Cassiopeia, too. And the crater was roaring and hissing. It was alluring and frightening at the same time. Indeed, I have never witnessed anything like this powerful force of nature before. Truly stunning…”
Svetlana CHIRTSOVA
