In the fall of 2024, social network users began to actively disseminate a text attributed to Mikhail Bulgakov that one cannot fully enjoy herring without vodka. We decided to check the correctness of this attribution.
Most often the text is given in this form: “What an insidious fish is herring?! As soon as you peel it, cut it, put it on a herring plate (caviar in the center), decorate it with onions (green, rings of crispy non-bitter and rings of purple), lightly sprinkle with unrefined oil, and put hot potatoes in their jackets (new) next to it, when the devil himself begins to whisper in your left ear: “Without vodka, all this is meaningless, you’re wasting your time.” With Bulgakov's signature, it began to spread at the end of October 2024 in Facebook, X, "VKontakte"and on entertainment sites.
Without attribution to the writer, this quote has been found on the Internet for quite a long time, and in two versions: the one quoted above, and another, a little more complete, in which the price of potatoes is indicated (“young, 80 re per kilo”). This clarification, as well as the mention of unrefined oil, allows us to say with confidence that the text has nothing to do with Mikhail Bulgakov. During his lifetime, 80 rubles. were not the price of a kilogram of new potatoes, but monthly salary teacher or head of the district police department. And it was not necessary to clarify that for herring you need to take unrefined oil - although in “A book about tasty and healthy food» 1939 edition available photo bottles of Soviet-made refined sunflower oil, this product was rare. According to Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, even after the collapse of the USSR, there were practically no lines for refining, deodorizing and packaging oil at Russian factories until the end of the 1990s.
A Google and Yandex search showed that the quote attributed to Bulgakov did not appear on the Russian-language Internet until 2019. The earliest publication that Verified was able to find is dated May 6, 2019. On this day text posted in the “Jokes” section of the entertainment website New Ostrie. The author of the publication is a user with a nickname Mister Trickster, who, judging by his profile, lives (or lived) in St. Petersburg. “Verified” was unable to contact him.
The very next day, a text about herring without indicating the source appears in the topic “Why not eat something?"on the forum"We served Baikonur", and on May 9th (with reference to New Ostrie) publish on the oldest entertainment site on the Runet “Anecdotes from Russia”. Then the text begins to actively spread on social networks and entertainment sites. It becomes especially popular in Facebook And "VKontakte"- publications are gaining hundreds and even thousands reposts. In all these cases, Bulgakov is not mentioned as the author.
January 5, 2024 on the entertainment site "Oh that's funny» there is a publication of a text about the insidious herring with an epigraph, which uses a distorted quote from Bulgakov’s play “Days of the Turbins”:
- I don’t drink vodka...
- How do you eat herring?
In the original the dialogue sounded a bit otherwise:
Lariosik. Actually, I don’t drink vodka.
Myshlaevsky. For mercy's sake, I don't drink either. But one glass. How can you eat herring without vodka? I don't understand at all.
The text (along with the epigraph and signature of its author) was published in the form of a picture that was distributed by users. At some point, during one of her reposts trimmed so that all that remains of the epigraph is the signature - “M. A. Bulgakov,” which led to further incorrect attribution. A similar story is described in another analysis “Verified”: an epigraph from Marina Tsvetaeva to the work of a modern writer was mistakenly accepted users for attribution.
Thus, the author of the text “What an insidious fish is the herring” is not Mikhail Bulgakov, but an anonymous Internet user. This text was first published online in 2019. It began to be attributed to Bulgakov because of the epigraph with a distorted quote from “The Days of the Turbins,” with which it was posted on one of the entertainment sites.
Cover photo: Unsplash
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