baconmeteor: бесплатные обеды на постном масле

baconmeteor (

baconmeteor) wrote,
@ 2006-10-18 13:44:00

бесплатные обеды на постном масле
Towards the end of Chapter 7, Ostap says "Хватит с нас триумфов, пальмовых ветвей и бесплатных обедов на постном масле". I'm not sure what he means by the last expression. I know that "чепуха на постном масле" refers to something completely foolish, and that постное масло is vegetable oil, with на постном масле implying something intentionally less than top quality. But is that Ostap's meaning here?

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	switch_on 2006-10-18 02:02 pm UTC (link)
	постное масло is also cheap, that's the point, I think (Reply to this)

	artiom_zheltov 2006-10-18 02:09 pm UTC (link)
	Basically, постное масло is non-refined vegetable oil. It has a very specific smell and taste, and it certanly is of lower quality. It was probably used for the mentioned lunches, we do not know for sure. Hence the meaning "phony crap" seems closer to the original one. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	oryx_and_crake 2006-10-19 02:20 am UTC (link)
	This is not true. Постное масло is any kind of vegetable oil as opposed to butter and lard that are not постные (cannot be used during lenten periods). The food made with vegetable oil is not necessarily of lower quality, however it can be cheaper than the food made with butter. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	artiom_zheltov 2006-10-19 06:07 am UTC (link)
	In the places where I came from they said постное масло meaning non-refined vegetable oil. In fact, it was the only type of vegetable oil available, and they didn't care much about religion. Probably you are right. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	artiom_zheltov 2006-10-19 06:08 am UTC (link)
	And it certanly was sunflower oil. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	nemica 2006-10-18 02:29 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, it's about trashy meals. (Reply to this)

	cherniavska 2006-10-18 03:48 pm UTC (link)
	sun flower oil..Very cheap and of poor quality:)) (Reply to this)(Thread)

	dmpogo 2006-10-18 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	Don't touch sunflower oil - one of the most expensive in our local supermarket ! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cherniavska 2006-10-18 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	Really? Here, in Canada, sunflower oil is second after the cheapest of all - canola oil... But, of course, there are many types of oils as well.. However, in Ostap's Russia, sunflower one was the cheapest.. and was called "postnoe" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dmpogo 2006-10-18 10:49 pm UTC (link)
	I am also in Canada :) Canola, corn, any other vegetable oil is cheaper in my place. Cheap olive oil is also close. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

cherniavska
2006-10-18 10:58 pm UTC (link)

That is a complicated matter. Contemporary food is a huge subject... Now I would have to ask you about the supermarkets and brands you refer to and many other things about the quality of food and your expectations...

I was referring to history of "postnoe maslo" and cooking on the cheap vegetable oil as opposed to cooking on butter which is also a huge discussion topic loaded with history as well..

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	oryx_and_crake 2006-10-19 02:22 am UTC (link)
	No, постное масло is any kind of vegetable oil. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cherniavska 2006-10-19 03:03 am UTC (link)
	any examples? That are relevant for Russia in 1920-1930? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	oryx_and_crake 2006-10-19 03:05 am UTC (link)
	What do you mean by "any examples"? Постное масло is something acceptable for eating during пост - therefore any kind of vegetable oil is постное. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2006-10-19 03:38 am UTC (link)
	how many kinds of vegetable oils there were? Except sunflower? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	oryx_and_crake 2006-10-19 03:49 am UTC (link)
	They ate ANYTHING in the 20ies. There was famine, you know. So I would say cottonseed, rapeseed and practically anything else. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dil 2006-10-18 03:52 pm UTC (link)
	Originally "постный" means food allowed during the Lent (пост). "Постное масло" - vegetable (usually sunflower) oil as opposed to butter. Both of them are "масло" in Russian. So "на постном масле" means а cheap substitute. (Reply to this)

phd_paul_lector
2006-10-18 05:11 pm UTC (link)

1) Unrefined sunflower oil is NOT a poor quality oil - it's better for your health (in terms of vitamin E contains, for example) then Extra Virgin olive oil. Usually, it was indeed used during fasts - and the Lent.

2) but cooking on it brings poor results - strong (and not quite pleasant) odour, smoke and etc., also it provokes heartburn - therefore, food cooked on it is deemed "cheap". Compare Bender's visit to asylum in "12 Chairs" - "На машинном масле? - Что вы, на чистом сливочном!" (and Alhen blushes)

Ostap means that their "triumphs and palm leaves" were, in fact, as cheap as столовские-общепиовские (government-issued) обеды - normally cooked on the cheapest vegetable oil or margarine

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	mithrilian 2006-10-18 05:51 pm UTC (link)
	Oh. My. God. I never thought how Bender looks spelled in Latin-based alphabet. It's BENDER. Just like in Futurama! A-ah! I am sooo sure that's what will first come to mind of any future American reader. Ooooh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	baconmeteor 2006-10-18 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	There's some speculation that Bender from Futurama was named after our Bender, but I've never found a definitive answer. It would be a lovely thing if true. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	phd_paul_lector 2006-10-18 06:02 pm UTC (link)
	well, Bender BENDS things, doesn't he? :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mithrilian 2006-10-18 06:22 pm UTC (link)
	And our Bender bends law ^) (Yeah, yeah, I know about Bendery place. ^) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	marusja 2006-10-18 06:56 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. I wonder if the writers had this in mind ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	phd_paul_lector 2006-10-18 07:48 pm UTC (link)
	that's what I mean remember his full name, btw? Остап-Сулейман-Ибрагим-Берта-Мария-Бендер-бей though this might be a joke (he names himself like this in dialogue with Zosya's husband - when he learns that Zosya is now Sinitskaya-Femidi) it's interesting that Turks and Greeks were foes for centuries (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Um, no 0_5 2006-10-19 06:58 am UTC (link)
	This name he uses when speaking to Shura Balabanov, and in a couple of other places AFAIR. And in dialogue with Zosya he calls himself Bender-Zadunaiskiy - which he probably have just made up... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Um, no phd_paul_lector 2006-10-19 12:02 pm UTC (link)
	true, true oh, my sclerosis... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Um, no mithrilian 2006-10-20 04:31 pm UTC (link)
	Your Alzheimer's, you mean :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Um, no phd_paul_lector 2007-12-18 10:48 am UTC (link)
	I forgot (Reply to this)(Parent)

	marusja 2006-10-18 06:55 pm UTC (link)
	This was the first thing I thought of when I watched Futurama for the first time :))) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Never thought of it (Anonymous) 2006-11-17 01:41 am UTC (link)
	Bender from 20's going to Rio, to the beautiful life with blackjack and hookers! Here we found some immortal values after all... (Reply to this)(Parent)

seminarist
2006-10-19 01:00 am UTC (link)

I think it is a sort of word play: what is really meant is "хватит с нас триумфов, пальмовых ветвей, бесплатных обедов и прочей чепухи на постном масле", but for humorous purposes прочей чепухи is omitted, and the reader remembers the literal sense of постное масло, with wich one can cook dinner.

It is not necessarily that the free dinners prepared for the rally crew were of poor quality or made exclusively with unrefined sunflower oil - in fact, most likely they were pretty good dinners, the best that could be had then and there: the rally was a government-endorsed, heavily publicized affair.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

phd_paul_lector
2006-10-19 12:07 pm UTC (link)

Well, of course with palm leaves (as usual, Ostap doesn't use to much modesty comparing himself with Jesus... not for the first time: "Я даже накормил пятью хлебами несколько тысяч верующих. Накормить-то я их накормил, но какая была давка!.." (ксендзам) - with palm leaves the list looks even more comic, that's true

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	shasha_z 2006-11-03 10:43 am UTC (link)
	It seems that "бесплатный обед на постном масле" was a kind of charity, which Orthodox church provided during fasting period to the poors. Ostap compared these charity meals with those benefits (humiliative for Ostap), which Antilopa crew have got as a fake auto race leader. (Reply to this)

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