Bell peppers have been known in Russia since at least the 16th century: the crop reached us from Turkey and Iran

Bell peppers have been known in Russia since at least the 16th century: the crop reached us from Turkey and Iran. According to one version, the name, which in Russian means "Bulgarian pepper", comes from the fact that the peppers were brought by Bulgarian settlers; according to another, it is because large-fruited peppers were developed in Bulgaria itself, although for the first centuries in Rus' it was nonetheless called Turkish. In other countries the crop is simply called sweet pepper. The first mention occurs in the herbal of Ivan the Terrible, in the manuscript "The Cool Orchard, or Herbal" (Blagoprokhladny vertograd ili travnik).

Illustration: Peppers by the Swiss artist Félix Vallotton, 1915

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Bell peppers have been known in Russia since at least the 16th century: the crop reached us from Turkey and Iran

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s