How the hamburger came to Moscow.

How the hamburger came to Moscow. An assignment in Moscow provided opportunities to meet prominentand world-famous Soviet citizens, some on business and others in veryunusual circumstances. And that's how I came to have a hamburgerwith Aram Khachaturian Noun 1. Aram Khachaturian - Russian composer (born in Armenia) whose works are romantic and reflect his interest in folk music (1903-1978)Aram Ilich Khachaturian, Khachaturian , the renowned Armenian composer. My story begins in 1968 with Ambassador Thompson flying back toMoscow from a visit to Washington and seated next to a woman who beganthe usual in-flight chit-chat. On learning that Thompson was Americanambassador to the Soviet Union, his seat companion began to ply him withquestions about his relations with the Russians. Unwilling to discusspolitical problems with a woman he did not know, Thompson made smalltalk about life in Moscow. "What is your most immediate problem," she eventuallyasked, and Thompson told her of his unfulfilled plans for the upcomingembassy July 4 reception. What he really would like to do, said theColorado-born and bred diplomat who was definitely not of the stripedpants variety, was to stage a real American cookout for his Sovietguests, with hot dogs, hamburgers, rolls, and all the fixings which, ofcourse, were unavailable in Moscow at the time. "Tell me how many guests you plan to have," replied JoanToor Cummings, the New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of philanthropist and art patron whose husbandwas the founder and president of Consolidated Foods Corporation (laterSara Lee Corporation), "and I'll have the whole works shippedto you by air." And so it came about that more than 200 of Moscow's politicaland cultural elite gathered on July 4 in the garden of Spaso House, theambassador's residence, where they were introduced to Americanhamburgers and hot dogs, grilled over charcoal by embassy teenagers. Andthat's how I found myself standing in line at the charcoal grillwith Aram Khachaturian, the celebrated composer, who was waitingpatiently for his second hamburger. Khachaturian has been described as"accessibility incarnate in��car��nate?adj.1. a. Invested with bodily nature and form: an incarnate spirit.b. Embodied in human form; personified: a villain who is evil incarnate. ," and we chatted. Not about music orhigh culture, but about hamburgers - which he liked very much-theiringredients and how they had become the American sandwich parexcellence. Khachaturian, in 1948, had been accused of bourgeois tendencies inhis music compositions but was later rehabilitated and remained in goodstanding with the Soviet authorities, despite his love of hamburgers. Hedied before McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Moscow, andgamburgers, as they are called in Russian, took Russia by storm. Andthat's how Mrs. Cummings, the art patron who presented pricelesspaintings to Chicago's Art Institute and New York'sMetropolitan Museum, also brought the plebeian plebeian(Latin, plebs) Member of the general citizenry, as opposed to the patrician class, in the ancient Roman republic. Plebeians were originally excluded from the Senate and from all public offices except military tribune, and they were forbidden to marry patricians. hamburger to Moscow. About the Author: Yale Richmond is a writer and former ForeignService Officer who lives in Washington, D.C. His latest books areUnderstanding the Americans: A Handbook for Visitors to the UnitedStates (Hippocrene Books, 2009), and From Nyet to Da: Understanding theNew Russia 4th edition (Intercultural Press, 2009). He served in Moscowas Counselor for Press and Culture, 1967-69. Editor's Note: The author tells the story of American"gastronomic gas��tro��nom��ic? also gas��tro��nom��i��caladj.Of or relating to gastronomy.gastro��nom diplomacy" in the USSR USSR:see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. long before perestroikaand the establishment of the first McDonalds in Moscow. -Ed.