The Russian table is not divided into starter-main course-dessert. One begins with *zakuski* (small savory bites, pickles, smoked fish), then *pervoye blyudo* (the "first course": a soup-staple, *shchi* or *borscht*), followed by *vtoroye blyudo* (the "second course": *kasha*, meat or fish). The meal ends not with dessert but with *tchaïepitié*, the tea ceremony around the samovar, where one slowly sips black tea accompanied by jams, *kissel*, and pastries. In Akhmatova's Leningrad of privations, this structure remained, reduced to essentials: a bit of *kasha*, a clear soup, and always, to the very end, the ritual of tea.

Sour cream (*smetana*) crowns almost everything in Russian cuisine: it is poured into soup, over *kasha*, over potatoes. Paired with fresh dill (*ukrop*), it is the flavor signature that connects the humblest daily meal to the feast. Akhmatova, even on rations, kept the taste of these childhood flavors from Tsarskoye Selo.