Language, culture, food: national cuisine as an ethno-marker in youth

Being able to identify oneself with the ethnic community which allows following the behavior patterns, norms, cultural traditions and values is considered to be an essential condition of ethnic identification. Ethnic self-awareness occurs through learning and accepting ethnic markers among which the national cuisine is a salient marker with vivid authenticity. The article discusses changes in the nutrition of the youth on the example of the students of Yugra State University as well as the hallmarks of national cuisine that allow students to identify themselves with the certain nation. The study is carried out on the materials of questionnaires and interviews with students. The questionnaires were conducted remotely, which excluded the contacts between respondents and interviewers. During the oral interviews students answered a certain number of questions divided into thematic clusters. The article presents the results of the interviewing activities in the following areas: everyday meal, holiday meal, ritual meal and traditional meal. The collected data point to the conclusions about features and changes in the students' nutrition, their knowledge of their national dishes and of other nations.