Komarovka is the soul of Minsk: why residents and guests of the city love the main market of the capital

Every self-respecting Minsk resident must have his own lard seller on the Komarovsk market. At least, this impression develops after you raise the topic of culinary addictions during some family feast. Suddenly, to maintain the conversation, you bluster something gender-neutral: “Where did you get lard?” and immediately you hear a whole lecture on a given topic. After all, everyone understands that buying lard is not easy, deeply intimate, and in some ways even sacred. It usually begins after the cold, but before the vinaigrette: "Well, I have my man on Komarovka." My grandfather also bought lard from him (or your counterpart from his grandfather, regardless) 50 years ago. When you come in, straight, then left, then left again. Password: from Petrovich”.

Let’s put aside the fact that in any large store and at numerous fairs that have unfolded throughout the country, now you can buy quite decent lard, other meat delicacies, including so beloved by some strata of society ham, and much, much, much more. But the myth of “his little man” on Komarovka is a classic of the colloquial genre, it must be nurtured and supported. The main thing, do not forget, having bitten off the exclusive lard, quack more pleasantly, roll your eyes to the stretch ceiling and dreamily say: "Yes, this is delicious!"

An indispensable campaign to Komarovka is included in the gentleman’s set of both a native Minsk resident and a guest of the capital. With each visit to the Komarovsk market, we learn something new about ourselves, our country, relations in society, the art of dialogue with strangers, although Mikhail Bulgakov bequeathed us never to talk to them. How can we not talk if we are in the market? We always learn something new about the product we are interested in. If, again, to go back to lard ("It was for you, buddy!" - I hear the angry shout of the editor-in-chief), every self-respecting seller will always ask for what purposes it is purchased: you need this product immediately on the festive table for the wedding or the anniversary in the form of cutting, or pickling in the jar for the winter, or for other pleasures. What composition of the product you are interested in - with a large amount of brisket and meat or pure, how thick and with how much salt, three or five fingers, immediately melting in the mouth like ice cream, or leaving a complex and long aftertaste thanks to seasonings and storage method. Do not hesitate to ask a piece for a sample - it will remove all questions.

Of course, Komarovka is not only lard. In this case, it is simply an image, a cross-cutting motif over which time does not control. Making is always the best meat, fish, poultry, eggs, freshest dairy products, magnificent Belarusian cheeses, cakes, seasonal vegetables, including favorite potatoes and berries of all kinds and varieties. And mushrooms. And, of course, Komarovka is not only about trade. Here exchange news, meet relatives and neighbors, make appointments

The Komarovsk market is the main food market of Minsk and the largest indoor market in Belarus. The area is more than 5 hectares, the dome is the height of a ten-storey house. A hundred thousand people come here on weekends. One hundred thousand - like my native Novopolotsk!

Any major market is the pulsating nerve heart of the city, and Komarovka is no exception. It pumps blood and energy, which paradoxically first takes from all its inhabitants and guests, and then returns them. Komarovka is the mental foundation of Minsk, a layer where the urban subconscious lives. A place of power, legendary and unique. The real soul of the city. They say there was once a swamp here... Today there are endless shopping rows and architectural thought frozen in its grandeur, embodied in life by the author’s team under the leadership of the famous Valmen Aladov. I had to visit him and interview him – a powerful, interesting and multifaceted person. Its warmth and the warmth of other architects also preserved these walls. They have absorbed all our hopes, sorrows and joys over the years.

How good it is in winter! What warmth comes from her shelves and smiling salespeople! What peace reigns here in the summer evening! How fresh is the spicy autumn and delightful spring! This place, like no other, organically fits into any time of the year. Making today is an obligatory point of gastrotourism, an extraordinary art object for lovers of the history of Minsk. If you don’t want to buy it, wait or sit on a bench next to the magnificent city sculptures.

Now this difference is probably erased, but in Soviet times, sellers in the store and behind the market counter are two big differences, as Mikhail Zhvanetsky said. In the market, sellers do not just sell, they communicate, joke, share news and everyday experience with you. Word for word - and now you are on the hook: "My sleigh had exactly the same case!" The owners of Komarov shelves are subtle psychologists, manipulators of your weaknesses, masters of their craft. The market for them is a real stage. The sale of the product is a separate solo performance, in which there will always be a place for salty everyday humor, light lyrics, and purely female logic. The eyes roll, the hands rise to the sky, the suffering sigh instantly flows into a rolling laugh. At this point, neither time, nor the laws of market trade, nor labor laws are in control of the female seller. It is in its element - the elements of prices, discounts, stocks, concessions to buyers and unshakable principles. No matter how much you ask for it, it’s all in the past. The trend is customer orientation. If before the buyer was always right, now he is absolutely right, only crossing the threshold of the Komarovsk market.

A separate chapter of Komarovka is male sellers, especially from the Caucasus. They are able to sing such praises, especially to young ladies, that when they leave this market, only one question will appear in their head: "Why did I buy this?" But the Caucasians are also an integral, beloved, colorful paint in the general palette of Komarovka. The friendship of peoples here is not beautiful words, but reality.

Every time we come back here again and again to go through this quest, to catch the incomparable vaib of the Komarov brotherhood and, holding a fist with something vital to our hearts, to understand that life at this particular moment, damn it, succeeded. And she's beautiful!

pepel@sb.by