Market Stall · Herring Spread
Forshmak
Photo: Анютка ; reprocessed by Off-shell (removed watermarks, color processing) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
It's a Yiddish-rooted dish that turns humble salted herring into something closer to pâté — a sign of Odesa's history as one of the most Jewish cities in the old Russian Empire.
Salted herring is minced with onion, apple, boiled egg, and butter into a smooth, tangy spread. It's piled onto dark rye bread and sold by the piece at Odesa's Privoz market food counters.
Why it's made this way: Odesa's Jewish community shaped much of the city's food culture, and forshmak remains one of its clearest culinary fingerprints.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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