“I Want to Kneel before the One Who Had Invented Pelmeni”: Issues of the Origin and Semantics of the Culinary Dish

Abstract

The paper discusses pelmeni – the type of dumplings that is widely known and utilized in culinary traditions of various peoples of Russia. I examine the origins and spreading of the dish, the composition of dough and filling, the methods of preparing and ways of consuming the dish, as well as the specific ritual uses of the dish among the Perm area peoples such as Udmurts and Komi-Permyaks. I trace the distinctive features of pelmeni as compared to other types of dumplings observed among the peoples of Pre-Ural and Middle Volga regions. Drawing on various linguistic, archaeological, and ethnographic data, I address the long-debated questions about the place and time where the dish had originated, and argue in favour of the hypothesis that points to its invention among the Komi and Udmurt groups during the Middle Ages.