Casserole of Creamed Potatoes (Kartofelnaya Zapekanka)

Casserole of Creamed Potatoes is a savory food made from potatoes.

Potatoes are so much a part of the Russian diet that they are fondly called the vtoroi khleb or ‘second bread’ of the people. But they were not always so popular.

When the potato was first introduced to Russia in the early eighteenth century, the Russians were reluctant to cultivate this strange tuber. Under Catherine the Great attempts were made to popularise the vegetable, but the people still felt suspicious of it, as the Europeans did of the tomato at first.

The Government’s determination to impose the potato on the populace led to conflict in the early nineteenth century, when there were numerous ‘potato rebellions’, culminating in the so-called Potato Mutiny of 1842.

This rebellion, a downright refusal by the peasants to sow potato crops, was the largest popular uprising of the nineteenth century in Russia.

It was only after Tsar Nicholas I issued a harsh edict enforcing cultivation that the peasants submitted to his will, and by 1844 prizes were being offered for the best potato cultivation.

Of course, life in Russia today is unthinkable without the potato, and a favourite way of preparing this ‘second bread’ is in zapekanka.

This Russian version of creamed potatoes is often made livelier with a sauce of dried mushrooms, but if the pungent flavour of wild mushrooms is not to your liking, the casserole may be served plain or with a milder sauce made with cultivated mushrooms.