#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Common or small kitchens were not conducive to cooking family dinners with several courses. So it was assumed that women freed from housework would buy ready-made meals and semi-finished products in culinary shops.
In 1959, canteen No. 23 opened in the new building No. 16 on Stalinsky prospect (now Leninsky prospect – editor). It was visited by residents of the surrounding houses and dormitories on Zavenyagin street. That summer, the city newspaper wrote: “The canteen was built without architectural excesses, convenient for serving visitors. The auxiliary shops are conveniently located and support the flow method of the technological process of production. The hall for visitors has tables with hygienic covering. The canteen has a culinary shop selling semi-finished products and cold snacks, and a confectionery department…”
In 1964, a new building for the city authorities was built next to the canteen: the executive committee of the city council of deputies, the city committees of the party and the Komsomol. There, the canteen changed its status – it became the new cafe Gornyak (eng.: Miner). Accordingly, the clientele also changed: employees of the city executive committee went there for set lunches, which, by the way, were among the cheapest in the city. Business meetings were also held there, in accordance with the brutal name, corporate holidays were held. The design was in fashion at that time: the walls were covered with wooden panels, silk batiks were on the windows. In 1974, Gornyak became a restaurant.
The history of the next culinary attraction began back in 1961, when canteen No. 39 opened on the first floor of a Hrushchev-era building. At first, there was no special design there, only an encouraging slogan hung above the entrance extension: “Our generation will live under communism!” Thanks to its convenient location, the canteen quickly grew into the Molodezhnoye (eng.: Youth) café, where Komsomol celebrations were held. In 1965, after renovations and the addition of the second floor, the café was renamed The 69th Parallel. The ends of the buildings above the entrance group were painted with deer and hunters’ figures, and an indigenes’ tent appeared on the roof. The café continued to target young people. Five years later, it became a restaurant, and the reconstruction continued to develop the theme of northern flavor in the interior and exterior. Tree-columns and embossing appeared at the entrance, painted deer walked along the main hall walls. Thus, The 69th Parallel became not just a catering establishment, but a city landmark. Norilsk residents took pictures against its backdrop to send a photo from the 69th latitude to the mainland.
Leninsky prospect was not only the red line of Norilsk, but also the main showcase of Norilsk trade. The most delicious catering establishments and the most popular stores were there. But almost all of them were built into the first floors of residential buildings. The authorities thus got out of a difficult situation, because money was allocated only for the construction of residential buildings. The first separate building for catering on the avenue – Krasnoyarskiye Stolby (eng.: Krasnoyarsk Pillars, named after the national natural park – editor) – began to be built in 1963, already at the end of Leninsky prospect. In March 1964, the state commission accepted it with an excellent rating. And then the city leadership had to wriggle out of it: supposedly a club was being built for neighboring dormitories, and not a canteen for the city. This food outlet has also gone through all its incarnations: first it was a canteen with a cafeteria and a deli, then a cafe and finally a restaurant.
Norilsk has always been a multinational city, where people came to live and work from all the Soviet republics. Accordingly, Norilsk cuisine was also multinational: the Plovnaya cafe – the future Dastarkhan, the Vostochnoye cafe and, of course, the Kavkaz restaurant were popular. A typical building, the same as Metelitsa or Krasnoyarskiye Stolby, was built in 1973. The name Kavkaz (Caucasus) did not appear by chance, the interior was designed in the national style: a handmade felt carpet and felt panels, a multi-colored stained glass window depicting highlanders, and the cuisine was also Caucasian. Signature dishes revealed a kaleidoscope of Caucasian cuisine. A few years after opening, the restaurant got dual citizenship: Caucasian and Scandinavian. Foreign specialists were fed there: Finns and Swedes. True, after some time, many foreigners learned to cook and eat at home. And so that the restaurant could fulfill its plan, the entrance was made free for everyone.
In 1966, on Ordzhonikidze street, builders completed another two-story standard catering building. The city canteen of the third markup category was also initially nameless, and later became Metelitsa (eng.: Blizzard). And the building was distinguished from other similar social and cultural buildings by a massive inscription on the facade, one could say, a real sculptural group. Snowdrifts constantly accumulated in its patterned curls – this is how the Norilsk weather added its own flavor to Metelitsa.
The canteen focused on serving living conditions for workers living in the surrounding houses and two dormitories next to the canteen. In front of Metelitsa there was a stop for chartered work buses, and so that people could have breakfast before work, the cafeteria on the first floor opened at 5:30 in the morning. On the second floor of Metelitsa there was a large dining room with two distribution areas: the first was open from 11 am to 11 pm, the second was additionally opened during rush hours, from 11 am to 4 pm, to relieve the flow of diners. There was also a large deli. In 1978, Metelitsa received the status of a cafe.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we also told about Norilsk restaurants.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Olga Zaderyaka, Norilsk residents and Nornickel’s Polar Division’s archives
