Places and Faces of Ural

Another promising project is Zveroboi, the only place in Russia dedicated to modern Ural cooking. In a risky move, it opened in fall 2020 at the fifth storey of a trade centre in one of Yekaterinburg's residential suburbs. Chef Nikolai Semenov and his team have been in contact with local historians and older women or their grandchildren, but employ both traditional and modern cooking techniques. 

Their repertoire includes Irbit mushrooms and Ivdel pine nuts, ribeye with willow tea, sauerkraut and garlic, nelma with honey cucumbers, grayling with cauliflower and smoked caviar sauce. St. John's wort, which in Russia is considered a cure-all and has lent its name (zveroboi) to the restaurant, is used in dishes and cocktails.

A book crucial to the new Perm cuisine is The North Warms You Up by Rashid Rakhmanov. The chef himself is no longer a Perm resident, but there are others to replace him.

One of them is Max Tuptisyn, who is very enthusiastic about local recipes for preserves and dishes, as well as those originating from fishermen, hunters and older generations. Max has been using these recipes in his own cooking at international restaurant Pio Vino 2.0.

Hunting remains a typical pastime and a way to get more food on the table.

Game hunting is practiced all over the country during the long autumn season lasting several months and the shorter spring one-week period reserved for geese, ducks, black grouse, Western capercaillie and woodcocks.

Hunting for ungulates — wild boar and moose — takes place in summer, autumn and early winter. 

The top prize is fresh moose liver which may be grilled over a campfire without further ado. Of the birds, the most common trophy is duck, while of the many duck recipes, the easiest and the true hunter’s favourite is shulum, or campfire duck soup with vegetables.