Summer Market Cup · Cold Kvass Soup
Okroshka
Photo: Pannet / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The name comes from kroshit, 'to crumble', after the finely chopped ingredients — and kvass versus kefir is a perennial Russian summer argument.
Okroshka is a cold soup of diced boiled potatoes, eggs, cucumber, radish, and bits of meat or sausage, all suspended in tangy kvass or soured kefir instead of hot stock. In summer, cafés and canteens around Moscow put it on the menu for a quick, cooling lunch.
Why it's made this way: The dish grew out of Central Russian peasant kitchens as a way to use leftover kvass and vegetables during the hot months, and it remains the region's defining warm-weather comfort food.
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