Porridge has long been a staple in Eastern and Central Europe. According to "Breakfast: A History" (2013) by Heather Arndt Anderson, "Eastern Europeans are quite devoted to a buckwheat porridge called kasha, which is one of the oldest known Slavic dishes. The centrality of kasha to the Eastern European way of life is evinced by the Russian rhyming proverb, 'schi da kasha-pischa nasha' (cabbage soup and porridge are our sustenance)."
It's not surprising that nursery rhymes involving porridge developed in the region. Sometimes a mother mouse feeds her baby porridge, sometimes it's a crow or magpie. This porridge rhyme has traveled around Eastern & Central Europe. Parents and grandparents still recite it as a finger play using the child's fingers.
Here you can find different versions of the porridge rhyme in several languages…
Eastern & Central European Porridge Rhymes
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