The Good Old Times of Tea Parties

The swan would be served with topeshniks or slices of sweet kalach bread dipped in melted butter and rounded out by condiments such as vinegar, salt, pepper, sour milk, salted cucumbers or plums.

As custom would have it, however, the newlyweds were not allowed to have even a little bit of food. It was reserved for after the bedchamber rite that they would soon be encouraged to proceed to with dances, jokes and singing, the latter even believed to confer marital happiness.

The newlyweds would retire to a separate room for a few hours and would take with them the karavai and the chicken that we can see on a platter next to the bashful bride.

...who, ‘In order to put on today the fashionably coloured and striped pantalons that were brought in just three days ago or replace his chain with another one recently obtained he would gladly say yes to two months of undernourishment.'

In spite of the rich interior or the chic clothing à la mode the man looks a mixture of tragic and comic as he breakfasts on a loaf of cheap rye bread, an impoverished aristocrat hiding his true circumstances.

These are on maple leaves as if on platters and were presumably grown in a greenhouse built as the dilapidated estate was being repaired following its purchase from the daughter of Sergei Aksakov, the author of "The Scarlet Flower" fairy tale. 

Greenhouses had been used to grow decorative or medicinal plants, but the preference shifted in the 19th century to fruits and vegetables that were, however, produced for personal consumption rather than for sale.

The practice was a popular pastime for Russia’s nobility, enjoyed by the likes of the Tolstoys and the Turgenevs. One of the main characters of Leo Tolstoy’s "War and Peace", Pierre Bezukhov, grows pineapples and strawberries in his greenhouse.

With hunger reigning supreme in 1918, and the imperial Russia out of the picture, the painting is a lament for old times when tea was served at balconies and tables groaned under the weight of food.

Russia had a long tradition of tea drinking complimented with cookies, honey, jam or pies. The late 19th century saw the foundation of several of the most prominent confectionery factories.

These included Partnership of A.I.Abrikosov's Sons’ (now Babayevsky Factory), Einem’s Partnership (now Krasny Oktyabr) and S.Sioux&Co Factory (now Bolshevik).

These were the birthplaces of iconic Russian sweets including the Rakovye Sheiki ("Crayfish Tails") caramel and Mishka Kosolapy ("Clumsy Bear") wafers with chocolate coating.

With meat in short supply, the Soviets replaced the religious practice of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays with "Fish Thursdays".

The propaganda machine backed the move with slogans like "Save time by purchasing fish culinary products" and the infamous 1938 poster that read "Time to savour the delicate taste of crabs". 

Sprat in tomato sauce, a popular and cheap product, entered mass production in the mid-1950s. By the mid-1970s, the Okean ("Ocean") chain of fish stores had spawned across the entire country, with the required equipment sourced internationally. 

This type of fish retail, new to the Soviet Union, was imported from Spain following a visit by the Soviet Fishery Minister.

Every family had their own recipe for pickled tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, eggplant caviar or leсso, an originally Hungarian type of ragout.

Fruit and berries were brewed to make kompot beverages and jams that could be consumed as standalone desserts or used as filling in baking or a treatment for colds.

Popular canned food during the Soviet era inсluded meat and fish products such as saira or stew. A separate type of canned food was ironically called ‘A Tourist’s Breakfast’, because it was an optimal pick for travellers or hikers. 

This product could feature golubtsy, or meatballs in cabbage leaves, fish with rice or barley cereal as well as salted meat. 

The grotesque depiction of the essence, the heat and the popular spirit of tavern tea drinking is punctuated by the choice of colour from the red of the walls to the blue of the costumes or the bright yellow of the bar. 

A branch of osier behind the icon places the time of the events on Palm Sunday, the last Sunday before Easter. In the Russian style, the respectable coachmen in the picture drink tea from the saucers and seem engaged in relaxed conversations just as waiters bring in more teapots.

The 1896 coronation of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas was a key celebration that year. It was held in what was called "the Russian style" to mark the continuity of tradition under the House of Romanov.

The menus for the official dinner were designed by prominent artists that included Apollinary Vasnetsov. Some of the dishes served included mince pies, Russian-style soup, chicken fillet with truffles, and artichokes with mushrooms.