Why do Russians eat potatoes without the skin?

[Laura Kline]

I wasn't judging. I just thought there might be some interesting cultural or
practical reason behind this practice, of which I was unaware. The storage
practices and age of the potatoes mentioned by Andrey Shcherbenok and Raisa
(offlist), for example, help explain this.

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Anna Frajlich-Zajac
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 1:41 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Why do Russians eat potatoes without the skin?

If we are so open minded why judge people for peeling  or non-peeling  
position.
Let them peel whatever they want for whatever reason.
Otherwise we would have to apply for grant to establish "peeling  
police".
AF
_______________________________
Anna Frajlich-Zajac, Ph.D.
Sr. Lecturer
Department of Slavic Languages
Columbia  University
704 Hamilton Hall, MC 2840
1130 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10027
Tel.  212-854-4850
Fax: 212-854-5009
http://www.annafrajlich.com/




On Feb 7, 2010, at 1:33 PM, Francoise Rosset wrote:

> It isn't just Russians though.
>
> I know many people who won't eat potato skins. I had a Thai  
> roommate who not only would not try my pan-roasted new potatoes  
> with skins (we cooked separately, so I wasn't _imposing_  
> anything!), but would get very angry that I ate them, and I would  
> get lectured about it no matter how new the potatoes were or how  
> well I cleaned them. Some of my Russian and European friends -- ditto.
>
> Personally I always thought it depended on the potato and the skin.
> But some of my French family peel anything and everything.
> Not just potatoes and apples, but peaches, grapes, tomatoes, etc.
> -FR
>
> Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
> Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
> Coordinator, German and Russian
> Wheaton College
> Norton, Massachusetts 02766
> Office: (508) 285-3696
> FAX:   (508) 286-3640
>
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