In Russia, a Shortage Triggers Soviet Habits
...As if the summer’s brutal heat, forest fires and drought were not enough, this country is now suffering through one final bit of weather-related misery, a scarcity of a beloved staple that is causing a kind of national time warp. Russians like Ms. Galina Litvyak, 72, a retired bookkeeper, are falling back on scrounging habits honed under Communism. And not liking it....
Buckwheat is not as central to the Russian diet as wheat, but it is considered more of a distinctly Russian food, a hearty plant that flourishes on the Siberian steppes. Generations of children have been raised on the stuff, which is valued for its nutrients, and school lunchrooms seem to go through it by the ton. (While buckwheat is much less popular in the United States, people of Eastern European descent might know it as kasha, often served with mushrooms, onions or bowtie noodles.)...
Irina Yasina, an economist and commentator, said the buckwheat shortage demonstrated how Russians were scarred by Soviet hardships.
“The reaction to this is absolutely Soviet — it is a classic, Soviet-style panic,” Ms. Yasina said. “Remember, it has been only 20 years since the Soviet collapse. I am 46 years old. For 20 years, I have lived under normal conditions. But the rest of the time, I lived under conditions of total shortages. And habits acquired during childhood are stronger than any others. It becomes almost a reflex.”...
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Buckwheat is not as central to the Russian diet as wheat, but it is considered more of a distinctly Russian food, a hearty plant that flourishes on the Siberian steppes. Generations of children have been raised on the stuff, which is valued for its nutrients, and school lunchrooms seem to go through it by the ton. (While buckwheat is much less popular in the United States, people of Eastern European descent might know it as kasha, often served with mushrooms, onions or bowtie noodles.)...
Irina Yasina, an economist and commentator, said the buckwheat shortage demonstrated how Russians were scarred by Soviet hardships.
“The reaction to this is absolutely Soviet — it is a classic, Soviet-style panic,” Ms. Yasina said. “Remember, it has been only 20 years since the Soviet collapse. I am 46 years old. For 20 years, I have lived under normal conditions. But the rest of the time, I lived under conditions of total shortages. And habits acquired during childhood are stronger than any others. It becomes almost a reflex.”...