Russia's Festival of Pancakes

MOSCOW -- New Orleans has Mardi Gras. Rio has Carnival. Russia? Pancake Week.

Lots and lots of pancakes, for a week. Pancakes with jam, pancakes with mushrooms, pancakes with caviar, and many others.

The "blini," as they're known in Russian, aren't exactly pancakes. They're more like crepes, cooked on a round griddle, spread thin and then folded over several times with the filling inside.

Blini are as Russian as vodka, a pillar of Russian cuisine (a generous term) found everywhere from street stalls to Moscow's poshest restaurants. At no other time of the year does the blin get as much love as during the holiday of Masletnitsa, a weeklong celebration before the Russian Orthodox Lent to say good riddance to Russia's dark, freezing winter.

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"We hope spring will come very quickly because it's very cold," says Marina Dijik, shaking in sub-zero temperatures next to her young daughter, Sophie, at Moscow's main Masletnitsa celebration.

"This year it's too cold to expect it so soon," an older woman quipped.

The blin symbolizes the sun – golden, round and warm – and it is also a convenient way to rid the cupboards of the dairy, meat and fish forbidden during lent. Masletnitsa is also sometimes translated as "butter week," since it got its name from the butter with which the blini are cooked.

On Thursday evening, the line to the Masletnitsa celebration at the base of the Kremlin walls stretched for a block, fur-clad Muscovites jostling to get in. As the gates opened at five o'clock, the 20 or so stands were overwhelmed with customers detailing how they wanted their blini made.

One modern-looking stand had stacks of pre-cooked blini ready for toppings as customers lined up. Zoya, working feverishly behind the counter, said their blini were the best around because they are served "hot, tasty and made with Russian soul."