Parilova V. D., Gavrilyeva T. N. Patterns of the traditional dishes consumption among rural population in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia): Zonal, ethnocultural and seasonal differences // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2026. V.11. №2. P. 170-190.
EDN: QNTRHC
Annotation
The article provides a systematic quantitative description of the rural population’s diet in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) based on the household survey conducted in 2021–2023 in 18 rural settlements (N = 400). The authors focus on 40 traditional dishes, for which self-reports on regular and seasonal consumption were collected. The diet is considered in three dimensions: everyday consumption, regional differences (social-economic zones), and seasonality. The findings show a stable group of technologically simple dishes — meat soup, pancakes, jams and drinks made from local berries — that form common everyday consumption in all settlements. Regional differences are determined primarily by local subsistence practices: venison in Arctic and southern settlements, dairy and horse-meat dishes in central and western settlements, northern fish in Arctic villages of Russian old-settlers and Evenki. A particularly notable finding is the substantial gap between seasonal-peak and regular frequencies of consumption for several dishes (kumys — 43.5% in June vs 1–4% regularly; stroganina — 76.3% in December vs 2–31% regularly), which indicates a seasonally distinct regime of their consumption. A comparison of the observed seasonal structure with the classical periodization of the Yakut food practices by A. A. Savvin (based on the 1930s–1940s data) reveals substantial continuity of the four-phase calendrical rhythm despite the disappearance of initial material conditions that once made this rhythm necessary.
Keywords
Sociology and anthropology of food, indigenous peoples of the North, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), traditional dishes, food seasonality, food systems.
About the authors
Varvara D. Parilova, PhD Student, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University (Japan); Institute of Finances and Economics, North-Eastern Federal University. Belinskogo St., 58, Yakutsk, 677000, Russia.
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Tuyara N. Gavrilyeva, DSc (Economics), Chief Researcher, Head of the Department, Arctic Research Center of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Kurashova St., 22, Yakutsk, 677000, Russia.
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