The foods they made you eat... just once.

[Nasturtium 500]

Yay borcht! I didn't have to learn to eat anything particularly odd, although it was more the whole eating without silverware that got me. It was a trick to figure out how to get the pita exactly right and then how to use this thing to pick fish off a whole fish.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Yay borcht! I didn't have to learn to eat anything particularly odd, although it was more the whole eating without silverware that got me. It was a trick to figure out how to get the pita exactly right and then how to use this thing to pick fish off a whole fish.

Some foods are easier than others!

[slim 1,514]

Yay borcht! I didn't have to learn to eat anything particularly odd, although it was more the whole eating without silverware that got me. It was a trick to figure out how to get the pita exactly right and then how to use this thing to pick fish off a whole fish.

?

[Nasturtium 500]

Yay borcht! I didn't have to learn to eat anything particularly odd, although it was more the whole eating without silverware that got me. It was a trick to figure out how to get the pita exactly right and then how to use this thing to pick fish off a whole fish.

?

Are you showing off how easy it is for you to make a pita spoon and then pull fish off a whole fish without touching the fish at all with your fingers?

[Brad and Vika 129]

Yay borcht! I didn't have to learn to eat anything particularly odd, although it was more the whole eating without silverware that got me. It was a trick to figure out how to get the pita exactly right and then how to use this thing to pick fish off a whole fish.

?

Are you showing off how easy it is for you to make a pita spoon and then pull fish off a whole fish without touching the fish at all with your fingers?

That is what I assumed. I actually see the whole fish as Eastern European "finger food". The borcht comment does look like some one was eating soup with fingers - a trick I never mastered.

[Nasturtium 500]

Yay borcht! I didn't have to learn to eat anything particularly odd, although it was more the whole eating without silverware that got me. It was a trick to figure out how to get the pita exactly right and then how to use this thing to pick fish off a whole fish.

?

Are you showing off how easy it is for you to make a pita spoon and then pull fish off a whole fish without touching the fish at all with your fingers?

That is what I assumed. I actually see the whole fish as Eastern European "finger food". The borcht comment does look like some one was eating soup with fingers - a trick I never mastered.

LOL, no, but I can see how one may connect the one statement with the other

Eating with your hands can be somewhat tricky... they manage to do it in such a way that they aren't really touching anything with their actual fingers that isn't going directing into their mouths-- usually with the use of a piece of bread. It's bad to touch a stranger's food especially, although in the family they generally do not care (same as us to an extent-- you figure we don't freak out about our family cooking without gloves). I imagine for those who go anywhere with a differing technique it's one more thing to try to get used to. I can, for instance, eat anything with chopsticks-- but that took practice, and I am not as fast as someone who regularly does it. Ammar has majorly imporved with using silverware (before it was like watching a 5th grader, now it's like watching a teenager lol), but still finds it easier to use a spoon in almost every case, especially when we would much rather have a fork (like eating chicken for example). This weekend we attended my cousin's wedding and I got to show him the whole formal dining techniques, which he flawlessly pulled off. I, on the other hand, still bumble like a child at the whole pita-eating.

[eekee 182]

In Russia at least, soup with bread is all about wiping up the soup with bread. I do this--soup in spoon in one hand, bread in the other, do some dipping and when you're finished wipe up the soup with the bread.

Re: touching someone else's food, you're talking about your husband's culture, right? Because that definitely hasn't been my experience in Russia. When I'm with friends we always share food. I definitely often will, say, eat out of the same soup using the same spoon as my friends, or have a bite of someone else's ice cream, and you ALWAYS, ALWAYS offer people a sip of your alcohol. Unless they're obviously bomzh. Then you just don't ask for it back. I see this all as "strengthening your immune system."

Edited May 19, 2009 by eekee

[Brad and Vika 129]

In Russia at least, soup with bread is all about wiping up the soup with bread. I do this--soup in spoon in one hand, bread in the other, do some dipping and when you're finished wipe up the soup with the bread.

Re: touching someone else's food, you're talking about your husband's culture, right? Because that definitely hasn't been my experience in Russia. When I'm with friends we always share food. I definitely often will, say, eat out of the same soup using the same spoon as my friends, or have a bite of someone else's ice cream, and you ALWAYS, ALWAYS offer people a sip of your alcohol. Unless they're obviously bomzh. Then you just don't ask for it back. I see this all as "strengthening your immune system."

eekee - Viktoriya got a laugh explaining bomzh to me. Cheers!

[eekee 182]

I think it's fascinating that "bum" and "bomzh" sound alike, even though bomzh is an acronym.

[Nasturtium 500]

In Russia at least, soup with bread is all about wiping up the soup with bread. I do this--soup in spoon in one hand, bread in the other, do some dipping and when you're finished wipe up the soup with the bread.

Re: touching someone else's food, you're talking about your husband's culture, right? Because that definitely hasn't been my experience in Russia. When I'm with friends we always share food. I definitely often will, say, eat out of the same soup using the same spoon as my friends, or have a bite of someone else's ice cream, and you ALWAYS, ALWAYS offer people a sip of your alcohol. Unless they're obviously bomzh. Then you just don't ask for it back. I see this all as "strengthening your immune system."

Yeah, I was talking about Ammar's culture and specific manners in his village/family/area (same thing). He will apologize even to me for touching something of mine, and honestly I don't care at all even if he was eating on something and then passed it to me. I figure we should be kind of passed that point now (obviously as long as it's not all slobbery or something).

That is interesting about the soup/bread thing. I know my German grandparents did the same thing-- also used bread to scoop/soak up anything with a gravy or sauce kind of consistency. Does that hold true for Russians as well? Are there specific relational taboos for when you stop this communal sharing or does it apply to everyone equally-- family, friend, and relative stranger alike?

[Brad and Vika 129]

In Russia at least, soup with bread is all about wiping up the soup with bread. I do this--soup in spoon in one hand, bread in the other, do some dipping and when you're finished wipe up the soup with the bread.

Re: touching someone else's food, you're talking about your husband's culture, right? Because that definitely hasn't been my experience in Russia. When I'm with friends we always share food. I definitely often will, say, eat out of the same soup using the same spoon as my friends, or have a bite of someone else's ice cream, and you ALWAYS, ALWAYS offer people a sip of your alcohol. Unless they're obviously bomzh. Then you just don't ask for it back. I see this all as "strengthening your immune system."

Yeah, I was talking about Ammar's culture and specific manners in his village/family/area (same thing). He will apologize even to me for touching something of mine, and honestly I don't care at all even if he was eating on something and then passed it to me. I figure we should be kind of passed that point now (obviously as long as it's not all slobbery or something).

That is interesting about the soup/bread thing. I know my German grandparents did the same thing-- also used bread to scoop/soak up anything with a gravy or sauce kind of consistency. Does that hold true for Russians as well? Are there specific relational taboos for when you stop this communal sharing or does it apply to everyone equally-- family, friend, and relative stranger alike?

I think it is an individual thing. I use bread to soak up soup, but I also use an unbitten piece to taste Vika's. No apology for drinking or eating after each other. I have seen some of her relatives do it, others do not - but there seems to be no prohibition in Ukraine around touching some one else's food.

I think it's fascinating that "bum" and "bomzh" sound alike, even though bomzh is an acronym.

I agree - and presumably the word does not have English roots.

[slim 1,514]

I think it's fascinating that "bum" and "bomzh" sound alike, even though bomzh is an acronym.

This is one of the first words I learned from my wife. "Why you always looks like bomzh?"

I think it's fascinating that "bum" and "bomzh" sound alike, even though bomzh is an acronym.

I agree - and presumably the word does not have English roots.

Maybe the English word has Russian roots? I've often wondered if "the stoop" as in "sitting out on the stoop sippin 40oz and smoking a spliff" comes from the Russian word "stoopniya" which would kind of make sense since your "stoopniya" is always on "the stoop." Maybe back in the day NYC Russians spent so much time out on the stoop it became an English word. Same with the bums. They were looking so bumzh that they became bums.

Time to go ask Mariya at hotforwords.com

[eekee 182]

I think it's fascinating that "bum" and "bomzh" sound alike, even though bomzh is an acronym.

This is one of the first words I learned from my wife. "Why you always looks like bomzh?"

I think it's fascinating that "bum" and "bomzh" sound alike, even though bomzh is an acronym.

I agree - and presumably the word does not have English roots.

Maybe the English word has Russian roots? I've often wondered if "the stoop" as in "sitting out on the stoop sippin 40oz and smoking a spliff" comes from the Russian word "stoopniya" which would kind of make sense since your "stoopniya" is always on "the stoop." Maybe back in the day NYC Russians spent so much time out on the stoop it became an English word. Same with the bums. They were looking so bumzh that they became bums.

Time to go ask Mariya at hotforwords.com

Bomzh is an acronym which stands for "without a fixed place of residence." It's only been around as a word since the 70s. Bum is from German, I believe.

[slim 1,514]

Bomzh is an acronym which stands for "without a fixed place of residence." It's only been around as a word since the 70s. Bum is from German, I believe.

Look at the big brain on eekee! I would've never guessed bomzh is an acronym. And how very Russian that is - without a fixed place of residence. HA! Come to think of it, I've never seen it in written form, only heard it when my wife is describing my appearance.

German? Could very well be as many of our words come from German.

How about "the stoop?" Any guesses there? Ask around for me as it's been perplexing me for years.

[mox 298]

And stoop is Dutch, which just means "porch." (I used to have a neighbor from The Netherlands and this is one of the useless bits of trivia that sunk in, only to resurface some 10 years later for Slim's benefit. ) There's a lot of cross-pollination between the Netherlands and Russia though, so who knows, you still might be onto something.