Historic cuisine of Veliky Novgorod exists mainly in literary sources. Chronicles and epic poems tell us about such victuals as «ognivo» (thick rich soup with fish fins), elk lips, white meat of lynx, baked swans and bear paws. However, these are fancy treats from a boyar or wedding feast. Common people ate much simpler things. The table was usually laid with cold collations and a pot with first course - shchi (cabbage soup), assorted vegetable soup or uha (fish soup). Actually, back then «uha» was the name for any thick soup, not necessarily made of fish. People of the Novgorod Land also ate cooked grains, oat or pea mush, dried and soaked berries, salted mushrooms, and fish of different kinds. Whitefish, bream and even sturgeon were plentiful in the Ilmen' Lake and local rivers, and such delicacies as caviar and smoked fish fillet were quite common and affordable.

Fish arrived at the table in great variety and cooked in a number of inventive ways - boiled, baked, fried in nut or poppy-seed oil, grilled, poached and stuffed. Vegetables were few in kinds but multiple in application. Cabbage, cucumbers and turnip were the favourites. Steamed turnip became proverbial as a symbol of simplicity and cheapness of a rural meal, since it more or less cooked itself in the oven while the family was working out in the fields. Stuffed with cottage cheese and garlic, it is still a gourmand's delight.

Naturally, Russian cuisine has changed a great deal over centuries. Nevertheless, today restaurants of Veliky Novgorod treat their guests to many of the traditional dishes, cooked in accordance with the old recipes as well as to the modern culinary creations.

Bon appetit, dear guests!