Is there any evidence suggesting Alexei may have been a vegetarian?

[TsarAlexeiII]

My account was just approved today and I am excited to finally be able to participate on the forum. I understand that the Tsaritsa was a vegetarian for at least the last couple of years of her life. I also know that the Russian diet is not exactly "vegetarian-friendly", however I have never read a single passage or statement suggesting Alexei hunted or fished with his father, or ate anything but blintz and eggs (the nuns brought the latter to the family during their stay at the Ipatiev house). I also know that Alexei, as a preteen and teenager, exhibited compassion towards fellow people. Do you think he extended this compassion towards animals?

The Last Tsar

[Maria_Pavlovna]

I don’t know about being a vegetarian? Maybe didn't eat a lot meat during the last few months of his life do to being a prisoner of the reds. Since I know what goes on in jails (use to work in one) the food was possibly limited to cheap and easy to prepare foods like bread, soup and eggs.
Alexei has have been on diets after attacks of his illness during his life time.  He also had a sweet tooth.


he loved all living things, not sure about his feelings of killing animals for food.

[Dust_of_History]

Hunting and fishing was considered too dangerous for Alexei, I guess. But the lack of information on his consumption of meat does not make him a vegetarian. Unlike today, meat was  still something special back then. Meat was not eaten every day but maybe 1 or 2 times a month and on special days. I cannot imagine him being a strict vegetarian.

[Sarushka]

Some notations in Alexandra's 1918 diary suggest that Aleksei did indeed eat meat:

7/20 June
"Kharitonov made a macaroni tart for the others (& me) as no meat was brought"

27 June/10 July
"2 day the others have no meat"


I presume "the others" refers to NOTMAA, since Alexandra never singles out Aleksei by name when writing about meals. While "the others" ate the food brought from the soviet soup kitchen, Kharitonov prepared vegetarian meals (mostly pasta dishes) for Alexandra.

[TsarAlexeiII]

Some notations in Alexandra's 1918 diary suggest that Aleksei did indeed eat meat:

7/20 June
"Kharitonov made a macaroni tart for the others (& me) as no meat was brought"

27 June/10 July
"2 day the others have no meat"


I presume "the others" refers to NOTMAA, since Alexandra never singles out Aleksei by name when writing about meals. While "the others" ate the food brought from the soviet soup kitchen, Kharitonov prepared vegetarian meals (mostly pasta dishes) for Alexandra.

Thank you for those interesting diary passages. Was Alix using slang by saying "2 day"? Do you know what her reason for being a vegetarian was?

[EmmyLee]

There's a thread all about Alexandra and her vermicelli here:
http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=16411.0

Of course we don't know exactly why she stuck with pasta so much or whether or not she had meat on top of it, but it has been speculated that it could be because it's easier to digest or maybe it was just a matter of preference.

[Sarushka]

Was Alix using slang by saying "2 day"?

I don't know if I'd call it slang, but Alexandra's use of language in her diary is rather lax. She was prone to using abbreviations and her spelling is not always conventional. Incidentally, in her wartime letters to the tsar (written in English) she would often write Russian names in cyrillic rather than latin script.

As for "2 day" I'm inclined to believe that should be read as "2 days" rather than "today," but there's no way to know for certain.

[historyfan]

Was Alix using slang by saying "2 day"?

I don't know if I'd call it slang, but Alexandra's use of language in her diary is rather lax. She was prone to using abbreviations and her spelling is not always conventional. Incidentally, in her wartime letters to the tsar (written in English) she would often write Russian names in cyrillic rather than latin script.

As for "2 day" I'm inclined to believe that should be read as "2 days" rather than "today," but there's no way to know for certain.

Or maybe "2nd day".