'Buckwheat panic' grips Russians as economic sanctions bite

With its warm, fluffy brown grains, buckwheat is the ultimate comfort food for Russians and as sanctions hit home, it is flying off the shelves in a shopping frenzy dubbed the "buckwheat panic".
Hard-hit by falling oil prices and Western economic sanctions imposed over the Kremlin's role in the Ukrainian crisis, Russia is seeing a catastrophic depreciation of the ruble and steep inflation.
But while Russians grumble about the rising price of chicken, cheese or sausage, it was only when rumours spread of buckwheat supplies running low that shoppers dashed out to fill their trolleys.
Buckwheat "is not just a food, it is a national idea," Russia's leading business daily, Vedomosti, wrote recently in an editorial.

While in the West buckwheat is more seen as a trendy food for the health conscious, in Russia it is a traditional staple, predating potatoes.
The cereal, which originates from India and Nepal, was first introduced to the Russians in the 13th century by the Mongol invaders. It was cultivated by Byzantine monks, leading to its name in Russian of "grechka," which sounds like Greek.

Buckwheat can be eaten at any meal in Russia, whether simmered with milk as a porridge for breakfast, served with chopped liver for lunch, or even stuffed inside a roast piglet at a special dinner.

It is ubiquitous in the cafeterias of Russian schools and kindergartens, hospitals, military barracks and prisons.
This autumn as Russians began to feel the effects of sanctions and the retaliatory embargo on most Western foods ordered by President Vladimir Putin, news spread of a low harvest in Russia's buckwheat heartland -- the Altai region in Siberia.
Due to a drought, Russia's buckwheat harvest fell this year to just under 600,000 tonnes, against the usual 700,000 tons.