National cuisine as a constituent part of ethnic identity

At present there are many opportunities for understanding other cultures, their mentality and worldview, social and cultural life, and historical development. The methodology of the social sciences and humanities offers an extensive tool for the study of ethnic identity, which is reflected in various elements of the practical and spiritual life of the people, social life. The proposed research is focused on studying the features of the national food culture as an important fragment of ethnic identity. The article shows that through the features of the national cuisine the ethnic uniqueness of peoples is delicately and authentically revealed and through the food realities of a certain ethnos specific ways of cultural self-expression and self-affirmation is revealed. National cuisine is a set of ideas about food preferences of a certain people, considered representative and at the same time specific for this ethnos. Representations of food habits are shared by all cultural bearers and are broadcast far beyond its limits. In the system of cultural markers of a certain ethnic group, the cuisine is a natural national phenomenon that develops spontaneously, but in accordance with internal laws, and represents a mechanism for the formation of ethnic identity at the level of everyday life. In the culture of a particular people, it is the national cuisine that is far from constructing and is capable of preserving its unique specificity even for a certain period of time. In this paper, the authors propose to consider the theoretical prerequisites for the study of national cuisine as a cultural phenomenon. The cultural, social and cross-cultural components of the research are presented, and the methods of questioning and thematic interviewing are disclosed in the study of traditional culinary practices of the peoples inhabiting the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra.