Queen Elizabeth II did not try Russia’s famous buckwheat porridge during her first and only visit to the country in 1994, said famous Kremlin chef Anatoliy Galkin in an interview with Russian media. Galkin, whose grandmother cooked for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, explained that during her visit, the monarch didn’t eat dishes that had onions or garlic in them. The chef, who worked in the Kremlin for 30 years and cooked for several Soviet and Russian leaders, including Leonid Brezhnev, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Boris Yeltsin, went on to say that the monarch’s favourite treat was strawberry and peaches.
He stressed that although the Queen could have enjoyed them all year round, she didn’t eat out-of-season fruit. Meaning if it was winter, she never touched strawberries or peaches. “She didn’t eat wild cherries in winter, she ate them during summer”, Galkin said.