12 April: Yuri Gagarin, first human in space, and a bowl of Solyanka
On 12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth in 108 minutes, the first person ever to leave the planet. Back on the ground, Russia's solyanka packs pickles, olives and capers into one punchy bowl.
Solyanka
Russia6.6
Solyanka is a thick, sour and spicy Russian soup packed with flavour. The meat version combines several kinds of cooked meat and sausage in a rich broth with tomato paste and onion, then adds the sharp, salty ingredients that define it: chopped pickled cucumbers and their brine, olives and capers.
Read about Solyanka and get the recipe →What happened
Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth in Vostok 1, the first human space flight (UN International Day of Human Space Flight).
Why this soup
Gagarin was born in Russia; solyanka is a Russian classic.
Sources
This page comes back every year on 12 April.
Every special day and its soup, in one calendar.
On This Day in Soup More soups from Russia