ABSTRACT
In its many incarnations, from real to surreal, from the beautiful to the grotesque, from object of pure art to weapon of social criticism, food has played a mutable yet permanent role in the Russian literary imagination. Exotic fruits such as pineapples, dubbed the 'King of Fruits', introduced into Russia in the mid-1700s, were not only highly prized for their distinctive flavour but also widely envied as much vaunted status symbols. The Russian calendar, dictated by the Orthodox Church, included 12 major festivals, as well as many smaller feasts, punctuated by some 200 days of fasting. The periods of abstinence it imposed established a culture of asceticism which remained in perpetual opposition to the gastronomic impulse, creating a moral imperative to resist the appeal of culinary riches, even though these fasts were often followed by sumptuous feasting. Nikolay Gogol's gastronomic sensibility marks a turning point in the treatment of food in Russian literature.
