And no, grechka is not the name of a dance craze here in Russia. Grechka or grechki (гречка или гречки) is basically buckwheat buds, groats or kasha however you want to call them. It's a food staple not limited to Russia as it's consumed in other places like Ukraine and Poland.
When I first visited Russia in 2011 I believe the granny I stayed with offered some to me but I turned it down. I'm not a fan of oatmeal and I was thinking it was something similar. There is also a fast food chain called Teremok (Теремок) which has meals with grechki as their sides and basically it's one of the reasons I'm less inclined to order food there (though I could just order the blinchiki (блынчики) which are Russian style pancakes stuffed with stuff).
Fast forward to December 2015 when I moved location within the city for the 4th (yes 4th, which I may have to explain at some point) time to a room in a house house. The owner of the house, a granny, offered me some food (it's good to feed your house tennants until they get back on their feet, note this!). One of the sides besides pickled cabbage was grechki. I didn't want to refuse what was offered because I pretty much avoided grechki. On the other hand I wanted to try it since it was a cheap source of food (800 g for about $2 or less depending on which store you buy it from). It turns out it's not bad but at the same time it's an acquired taste.
Since I've never cooked it before I turned to the internet to learn how to cook them. In summary it was almost like cooking rice. A cup of the stuff can pretty much feed a village (of four people that is). Unlike cooking rice grechki have this roasted scent to them as they cook. Once they're cooked you can have as your breakfast cereal (using what the link suggests fresh milk and sugar). You can make your own teremok meal by adding some butter to the groats and having a side of some hot dogs (for example Hannover sausage (ганноверский соусис), fried egg, ham & cheese slices, pickled cabbage, even chicken kiev. For a drink you can have whatever you like although if you want to Russian it up you can have kvass, kompot, or mors to start.
Grechka is your universal food, unless somehow you can't eat it for some health reasons.
When I first visited Russia in 2011 I believe the granny I stayed with offered some to me but I turned it down. I'm not a fan of oatmeal and I was thinking it was something similar. There is also a fast food chain called Teremok (Теремок) which has meals with grechki as their sides and basically it's one of the reasons I'm less inclined to order food there (though I could just order the blinchiki (блынчики) which are Russian style pancakes stuffed with stuff).
Fast forward to December 2015 when I moved location within the city for the 4th (yes 4th, which I may have to explain at some point) time to a room in a house house. The owner of the house, a granny, offered me some food (it's good to feed your house tennants until they get back on their feet, note this!). One of the sides besides pickled cabbage was grechki. I didn't want to refuse what was offered because I pretty much avoided grechki. On the other hand I wanted to try it since it was a cheap source of food (800 g for about $2 or less depending on which store you buy it from). It turns out it's not bad but at the same time it's an acquired taste.
Since I've never cooked it before I turned to the internet to learn how to cook them. In summary it was almost like cooking rice. A cup of the stuff can pretty much feed a village (of four people that is). Unlike cooking rice grechki have this roasted scent to them as they cook. Once they're cooked you can have as your breakfast cereal (using what the link suggests fresh milk and sugar). You can make your own teremok meal by adding some butter to the groats and having a side of some hot dogs (for example Hannover sausage (ганноверский соусис), fried egg, ham & cheese slices, pickled cabbage, even chicken kiev. For a drink you can have whatever you like although if you want to Russian it up you can have kvass, kompot, or mors to start.
Grechka is your universal food, unless somehow you can't eat it for some health reasons.
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