Thread: Life in our countries - "good, bad and ugly"...

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

This one was brilliant. However, in reality, it's so amazing how swiftly you 'stop being soviet' when you suddenly cannot buy basic food (not for decades, just for couple days). Collapse is not simply a word, it means a terrible thing. I mean the life in for example 1975 and the life in 1990 - are absolutely disparate categories (also as lifes in Omsk and in Moscow at any time: hence most people in Moscow's queues were from other regions).
I remember the article in some newspaper, belonging to about the time when McDonalds had opened, where some foreign firm shipped "foreign" ice-cream to Moscow, and, of course, the queue immediately was created. "Советские люди так любят мороженое?" - asked foreign businessman in amazement. The author of article replied to him: "Советские люди любят всё!" BTW, foreign ice-cream was an absolute crap in comparison to what I used to eat, let's say in 1975..1985.
In short, any idea could be ruined if the chiefs cannot provide simple food to citizens.

I absolutely loved the мароженое they sold in Soviet times. Delicious! Советское шампанское was another favorite. And as for food, well there was not a lot of variety when I was there because by then the economy was tanking... but there were still a few places where we went to eat and it was not all cockroaches and nastiness. There was a Georgian restaurant in Leningrad called "Tbilisi" which served some pretty good food. The commissary where we worked, on the other hand, that was nasty. But we got used to it. I learned not to look too closely at the cooks. Or at my plate. One time I found half a cockroach in my каша and I just pushed it aside and kept eating. That's when I knew I'd been there too long...

Originally Posted by Deborski

One time I found half a cockroach in my каша and I just pushed it aside and kept eating. That's when I knew I'd been there too long...

Let me guess, did this incident happened in 1989-1999 decade? If so, I could explain the trick. I guess as a foreigner and TV journalist you used to eat at private restaurants and so. The owners of these places prefered to bribe sanitary autorities and do their buisness as they want. At the same times I used to eat at my school cafeteria, uni cafeteria, factory where I worked etc. and never saw a cockroach there. These placeses were still working by USSR standarts and since they were still state-owned they couldn't bribe a sanitary inspectors. In the 2000s these places (I mean state owned places where you could get a dinner) almost died out (with some exceptions, some are still working). I remember when I was asked to do some ingineering work in "super cool" restaurant called " Pirosmani" owned by some Georgian mafia boss in 1999. It was located in a place in Moscow covered by tourists, owner showed me pictures of Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin having a dinner there with their signatures and words of gratitude and so. But when I visited the kitchen it was swarming with cockroaches. In 90s in Russia cockroaches were rather sign of a "cool" restaurant because the owner could say to "fvck of" to sanitary inspectors. The ordinary places had to be sterile or be closed by authorities.

Originally Posted by Basil77

Let me guess, did this incident happened in 1989-1999 decade? If so, I could explain the trick. I guess as a foreigner and TV journalist you used to eat at private restaurants and so. The owners of these places prefered to bribe sanitary autorities and do their buisness as they want. At the same times I used to eat at my school cafeteria, uni cafeteria, factory where I worked etc. and never saw a cockroach there. These placeses were still working by USSR standarts and since they were still state-owned they couldn't bribe a sanitary inspectors. In the 2000s these places (I mean state owned places where you could get a dinner) almost died out (with some exceptions, some are still working). I remember when I was asked to do some ingineering work in "super cool" restaurant called " Pirosmani" owned by some Georgian mafia boss in 1999. It was located in a place in Moscow covered by tourists, owner showed me pictures of Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin having a dinner there with their signatures and words of gratitude and so. But when I visited the kitchen it was swarming with cockroaches. In 90s in Russia cockroaches were rather sign of a "cool" restaurant because the owner could say to "fvck of" to sanitary inspectors. The ordinary places had to be sterile or be closed by authorities.

Nope. As a matter of fact, I worked за рубли and so actually it was very rare that we went out to the expensive, private restaurants and I only ate at the Astoria one time. More frequently I ate with my Russian colleagues at the commissary на телевидение, and that was where I found the cockroach. I guess that the cooks there either gave the inspectors the фиг в кармане or they just didn't care.

Originally Posted by Deborski

Nope. As a matter of fact, I worked<em> за рубли</em> and so actually it was very rare that we went out to the expensive, private restaurants and I only ate at the Astoria one time. More frequently I ate with my Russian colleagues at the commissary<em> на телевидение,</em> and that was where I found the cockroach. I guess that the cooks there either gave the inspectors the <em>фиг в кармане</em> or they just didn't care.

Ok, I stand corrected then. But still, for me, столовские тевтели на противне с поджареной корочкой с подливкой и гарниром из гречки, которые толстая тётка накладывает тебе лопаточкой с недовольным видом, но, если ты ей улыбнёшься, добавит подливки, are still one of the best food I ever could get.

Originally Posted by Basil77

Ok, I stand corrected then. But still, for me, столовские тевтели на противне с поджареной корочкой с подливкой и гарниром из гречки, которые толстая тётка накладывает тебе лопаточкой с недовольным видом, но, если ты ей улыбнёшься, добавит подливки, are still one of the best food I ever could get.

Our столовая didn't serve that! Lucky you, it sounds delicious! Mostly we had яичница (fried or soft boiled), каша, and some kind of macaroni with sauce. On rare occasions there was meat, usually pork or chicken, but no way to know for sure.

Most of what I ate was stuff I cooked myself. I did most of my shopping at the рынок, but I shopped at the state stores too. Lots of курица, баранина, кинза, укроп, соленые огурцы, и так далее. It was a pretty healthy diet actually. Most of the food I ate was grown by collective farmers in the Ukraine, so there were not a lot of pesticides or preservatives and there was no real "junk food" like we have in America. It took a lot of getting used to, but it wasn't so bad and I was in good physical shape from all the walking that was required.

Originally Posted by Deborski

On rare occasions there was meat, usually pork or chicken, but no way to know for sure.

I usually easily distinguish between pork and chicken, if it's real pork and chicken of course. What were they trying to feed to you?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

I usually easily distinguish between pork and chicken, if it's real pork and chicken of course. What were they trying to feed to you?

Chicken was pretty easy to differentiate from other meats. But pork, not so much. I think there were a couple times when I ate horse-meat. Often the meat was prepared in such a way that it wasn't clear what it was. There were soups with meatballs in it, for example, or meatballs in the macaroni sometimes.

Originally Posted by Eric C.

I usually easily distinguish between pork and chicken, if it's real pork and chicken of course.

I agree with you, but I've heard that "potential confusability" is the reason that strict Orthodox Jews will not eat chicken (or other bird-meat) with dairy -- because, if bought from an unscrupulous vendor, the "chicken croquettes in sour cream" might turn out to be veal, which would break the no-meat-with-dairy rule. Or, it might even be pork -- which, obviously, is трефной no matter how you cook it.

And as Deborski points out, different meats are often chopped/ground and mixed together when making котлеты or тефтели, so then it's harder to tell.

Originally Posted by Basil77

...These placeses were still working by USSR standarts and since they were still state-owned they couldn't bribe a sanitary inspectors.

Почему нет? Денег не хватало у директоров? Так инспекторы тоже не дураки: проще взять столько, сколько можно реально, чем закрывать кого-то (кто на следующий день опять откроется на том же месте).

Тараканов помню только в деревенской столовой. Мы участвовали в мероприятии "колхозники помогают студентам собирать урожай" на стороне студентов, а обедали вместе с комбайнёрами. Любое блюдо содержало 1-2 тараканов, они были на виду, и мы (студенты) их вылавливали. Колхозники же, казалось, вообще не смущались. Не зря говорят (обычно про мух, комаров,...): "Это ведь тоже мясо!"
Было это ещё в СССР, кажется, в 1989.