Ruthenian Pierogi in Zapiecek (a Polish chain of pierogi restaurants)

3 comments

1. My brother in christ there are no russian pierogi just “Pierogi ruskie” and “ruskie” means ruthenian not russian, so thats just accurate translation from them. Unless thats what you ment but then whats the point of the post, that some restaurants have accurate translations ?

2. Surprised? Why?
   We’ve never had *pierogi rosyjskie*. We’ve always had *pierogi ruskie*.

   Ruskie from Ruś. Ruś being Ruthenia. Spanning from today’s Lithuania and Poland to Belarus (literally “the White Ruś”) and Ukraine, with a relatively small chunk in today’s Russia. While there were dozens of fractional “Ruthenias” over the years: Ruś Halicka, Ruś Kijowska, Ruś Włodzimierska, … in the Polish culture, the general concept is ancient & mainly based on the “Black Ruś”, the “White Ruś” and the “Red Ruś” and their general areas, rather than any specific individual states. And that’s where the *pierogi ruskie* come from.

   Sort of obvious for any Polish guy & gal who have not slept through their basic history courses in the primary school. Unfortunately, not neccessarily as obvious elsewhere.

   All the confusion because the term “ruski” was later adopted as the adjective for all things russian, as imported from the users of Russian themselves (the Russkies). Prior to that we’ve simply had it as the *Moskwa*, the *Moskale* and all things *moskiewskie*.

   To avoid any tasteless associations with Moskwa, those tasty dumplings are currently often served as *pierogi ukraińskie* (even though Ukraine is so much more than Ruś – take Crimea for example). To be consistent, then, there should also be *pierogi białoruskie*. Especially for those who use the term *ser biały* instead of *twaróg* for one of the main ingredients 😉

3. I’m surprised you people didn’t get sarcasm.