The Story of Vibe ·
Dacha Day, 20 September: BBQ and kazan plov - how it went
The community's third big barbecue, and the first with a kazan standing next to the grill: on Sunday 20 September we closed the season dacha-style, with a polka-dot tablecloth on the table, chicken drumsticks and pork over the fire, Uzbek lamb plov, dancing on the gravel and swings for the kids. The venue is private, twenty minutes from Montpellier, and we don't name it.
| When | |
|---|---|
| Where | Загородная площадка с дачным настроением под Монпелье · Монпелье и окрестности |
| What it cost | €35 per adult, €10 per child aged ten and over - the fee covered the meat, the plov, the charcoal and the cooks' work; the shared table was potluck |
| What was on | Sunday 20 September, from 11:00 until the evening: the grill (pork and chicken), an Uzbek wedding plov with lamb in a kazan over a live fire, a shared table with pickles, dancing, swings and a trampoline, jumping over a bar |
| What we brought | Blankets, hammocks, games and balls were your own to bring; everyone brought their own drinks, with a non-alcoholic punch on site; the address was sent out on sign-up |
Photos from the meet-up
Photos are published with participants' consent. How to have your photo removed.
How it was meant to go
The announcement came out three days ahead, on 17 September, and it set the mood in its first lines: “We’re heading out into the countryside to rest our souls - no formality, no fuss. Just a big table, a live fire, good food, conversation, laughter and that warm dacha vibe.” Two masters were in charge of the fire: one doing shashlik of pork and chicken, the other “a genuine Uzbek wedding plov with lamb, in a big kazan, right before your eyes”. Plus pickles, snacks and “everything without which a real dacha table simply doesn’t count as a dacha table”.
The fee was €35 per adult and €10 per child aged ten and over, with sign-up through the organiser in the chat. Gathering on Sunday 20 September by 11:00, then on until the evening, with no fixed timetable. The venue was private, twenty minutes from Montpellier, and the address went out on sign-up.
It was the community’s third big barbecue, after the overnight camping trip of 31 May 2025, where the whole thing began, and the Shashlyndos of 24 May 2026, which opened this season. The September gathering closed it.
What was on the fire
From the photographs you can put the day back together almost minute by minute. By half past twelve there were already chicken drumsticks on the grate, packed tight in two rows, golden crust and all. The grill stood in the shade of the trees, a bag of charcoal beside it and a plastic chair with a red apron slung over its back; the cook, in a grey apron, was turning the meat with tongs, and a haze of smoke hung over the grate. The pork went on after.
The plov was a story of its own, and worth being on time for. The lamb had been boiled in advance, and some time after three the plov master, in a black apron, was carving it on a wooden board by the summer kitchen, a bowl of rice, a bottle of oil and fresh herbs beside him. Then the plov came out to the table on a big dish with a blue rim: rice, carrot cut into matchsticks, chickpeas and large pieces of lamb on top, set down on the red polka-dot tablecloth. At the earlier barbecues everything revolved around the grill. Here there were two stages at the fire, and the queue at the kazan was no shorter than the one at the grate.
Besides the food
The table with its tablecloth was half the day. The other half happened on the gravel under the trees. Some time after four, two women were dancing hand in hand under the leafy branches; a little later one of the men lifted his partner in a proper dance hold, upside down, hair brushing the ground, with the swings in the background.
For the children there was a two-seater swing and a trampoline with a safety net; the adults pushed, the kids squealed. Next to them someone set up a blue bar on stands, and jumping over it quickly turned into a competition: in one frame it’s cleared with room to spare, mid-flight, ponytail streaming. Those frames stay out of the gallery. Children in close-up belong in family albums.
Towards five in the evening the cooks’ team posed by the summer kitchen: spatula and tongs raised overhead like trophies, the fire burning in the hearth behind them. If you need a single picture of this day, that’s the one.
How it worked
- Two culinary centres. The grill and the kazan stood at opposite ends of the grounds, and guests walked between them: while some waited for shashlik, others watched the rice go in.
- A shared table. Pickles, salads, snacks, fruit and pies were potluck, as at the Shashlyndos in May. Everyone brought their own drinks, and there was a non-alcoholic punch at the entrance.
- Cars. You can’t get there by public transport; people without a car were picked up, with the car list put together in the chat, as on every out-of-town trip.
- Facilities. A summer kitchen with a hearth, a fridge and a toilet, which was enough to bring something perishable for the shared table.
We didn’t count how many times anyone went back for seconds. We did notice that in the last frames, just after five, the table still hadn’t broken up.
What it cost
- €35 per adult.
- €10 per child aged ten and over.
The fee covered the meat, the plov, the charcoal and the cooks’ work, which is to say what the day cost. The organisers bought meat for the exact number of guests, so sign-up and payment closed a few days in advance. The community doesn’t run a till: the money went straight to the organisers, as it did for the catamaran and the villa weekend.
The day before, and what came after
It turned into a double weekend: on Saturday 19 September there was Mafia and karaoke at the bar La Chistera in Montpellier, and on Sunday the dacha. Part of the crowd did both days.
Further down the calendar the autumn runs without a pause: on 11 October a picnic on Carnon beach to close the beach season, on 23 October a solo guitar concert at La Chistera, and on 30 October the community heads to Toulouse for the Slavic Weekend, «Славянский движ» in the chat, with a banya, shashlik and crayfish. The announcements, as always, appear in the community chat.
How the earlier barbecues in the series went
The first big trip, on 31 May 2025, was an overnight weekend at a campsite between Montpellier and Béziers: around eighty people including fifteen children, eleven cabins, a grill lit in several rounds, a pool with slides. Two days later the chat was renamed “Vibe Montpellier”: “it all started with that one”.
The second, on 24 May 2026, was the Shashlyndos in the municipal park at Saint-Just: meat counted at a kilo of raw weight per adult, an invited professional grill master at the mangal, a host with games, a live violin, a salsa class and karaoke. The fifteen photos on that page show what our shared table looks like.
About the community
“Vibe Sud France” is the Russian-speaking community of Montpellier and the whole South of France, more than six hundred people in a Telegram chat. It’s free and volunteer-run: the members think up the events and host them themselves. In a year and a half there have been barbecues, hikes, beach days, a yacht and two catamarans, ice skating, Maslenitsa, Mafia and karaoke. The full event chronicle is on the site, and how the community works has a page of its own. Being in the chat costs nothing; events are paid for at cost.