Kasha

This article is about the food. For other uses, see Kasha (disambiguation).
"Grechka" redirects here. For the footballer, see Orest Grechka.
Kasha
Buckwheat kasha
TypePorridge, oatmeal
Region or stateEastern Europe
Main ingredientsCereal (buckwheat, wheat, barley, oats, millet or rye)
  •   Media: Kasha

In English, kasha (/ˈkɑːʃə/) is a porridge usually[a] made from buckwheat, a pseudocereal. In the Slavic languages, kasha means porridge. In some varieties of Central and Eastern European cuisine, kasha can apply to any kind of cooked grain. It can be baked but most often is boiled, either in water or milk, but the word can also refer to the grain before preparation, which corresponds to the definition of 'groats'.

Etymology

The word kasha was borrowed from Russian kásha and first appears in English-language sources in 1808.[1]

The English-language usage of kasha, which refers primarily to buckwheat, probably originated with Jewish immigrants, as did the form קאַשי kashi (literally translated as "porridges").[4]

The word kasha is used in Belarus (каша), the Czech Republic (kaše), Lithuania (košė), Poland (kasza), Romania and Moldova (cașa), Russia (каша), Slovakia (kaša), Slovenia (kaša), Kazakhstan, and Ukraine (каша).

In Ashkenazi Jewish culture

As an Ashkenazi-Jewish comfort food, kasha is often served with onions and brown gravy on top of farfalle, known as kasha varnishkes.[5] Kasha is a popular filling for knishes,[6] and is sometimes included in matzah-ball soup.[7]

In Poland

In Polish, cooked buckwheat groats are referred to as kasza gryczana. Kasza can apply to many kinds of groats: millet (kasza jaglana), barley (kasza jęczmienna), pearl barley (kasza jęczmienna perłowa, pęczak), oats (kasza owsiana), as well as porridge made from farina (kasza manna).[8] Bulgur can also be referred to as a type of kasza in Polish (kasza bulgur).

As Polish blood sausage is prepared with buckwheat, barley or rice, it is called kaszanka (kasha sausage).

Annual per capita consumption of groats in Poland was approximately 1.56 kg (3.4 lb) per year in 2013.[9]

In Russia

The largest gross buckwheat consumption per capita is in Russia, with 15 kg (33 lb) per year, followed by Ukraine, with 12 kg (26 lb) per year.[10] Buckwheat comprises 20% of all cereal consumption in Russia.[11]

In Russian, buckwheat is referred to formally as гречиха (grechi(k)ha), or colloquially as гречка (grechka), which gave rise to the Yiddish words gretshkes/greytshkelach and retshkes/reytshkelach.

Kasha is one of the Russian traditional dishes. Together with shchi it used to constitute staple foods for poorer people. This fact is commemorated in the Russian saying, "щи да каша – пища наша" (shchi da kasha – pishcha nasha), which literally translates as "shchi and kasha are our food".[12]

Butter is often eaten with most kasha recipes, hence another Russian saying: "кашу маслом не испортишь" (kashu maslom ne isportish), which translates to "you cannot spoil kasha with butter".[13][14]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b "kasha". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871. Retrieved 2026-03-07. Quote: "a porridge made usually from buckwheat groats."
  2. ^ Stevenson, Angus (19 August 2010). "kasha". Oxford Dictionary of English. OUP Oxford. p. 957. ISBN 978-0-19-957112-3. "(in Russia and Poland) porridge made from cooked buckwheat or similar grain.
  3. ^ "kasha". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. OCLC 1120411289. Retrieved 2026-03-07. Quote: "a dish originating in Eastern Europe, consisting of boiled or baked buckwheat."
  4. ^ Steinmetz, Sol. Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms. p. 42. ISBN 0-7425-4387-0.
  5. ^ "Le Cordon Jew". May 22, 2008. Archived from the original on 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  6. ^ Marks, Gil (2 September 1999). The: World of Jewish Cooking. Simon and Schuster. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-684-83559-4.
  7. ^ "Matzo Ball Soup". Los Angeles Times. 1 March 2019 [Original date 25 November 1999].
  8. ^ "Polish Food 101 ‒ Groats". Culture.pl. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  9. ^ Biuletyn Informacyjny ARR 4/2013, Handel Wewnętrzny 4/2013 IBRKK
  10. ^ No 8 [008] 26 жовтня Archived 2015-01-18 at the Wayback Machine, 2007; [www.agro-business.com.ua/.../1655-2013-06-25-11]
  11. ^ Russian Market of Buckwheat in 2009 - September 2010 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ ПОЧЕМУ ГОВОРЯТ «ЩИ ДА КАША — ПИЩА НАША»?
  13. ^ "Nourish Your Language: Foodie Words Refashioned". Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  14. ^ "The Russian love for kasha - Liden & Denz Institute". 14 December 2020. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
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