Thread: Cultural observations ... Food

I have spent the last three months living in towns that didn't have a McDonalds.. and I lived to tell the tale! Amazing but true!

Russia isn't really famous for its cuisine, and честно говоря, that's probably fair. At the same time, it doesn't mean you can't buy (or cook) great food here - you can.
One of the first conversations you're likely to have with people here is about the difference in eating styles - and in average weight! - of Russian and Western people. Everyone has a theory about why Americans, British etc. are so much fatter than Russians. Feel free to offer yours..

So what are the main Russian dishes?
Well #1 for me is борщ I'm particularly fond of it because i love beetroot. However I was dismayed to discover, on arriving here, that beetroot isn't actually considered to be the main ingredient of borsch (despite the fact that several dictionaries I've seen have defined it as 'beetroot soup' ). Usually it contains things like капуста (cabbage), помидор (tomato) and a little meat, maybe carrots onions, stuff like that. It's a perfect antidote to winter.
Other stuff that's very popular:
пирожки - It's a diminutive of 'pirog' or 'pie'. I find the name (or more accurately, the translation) a little misleading because pirozhki don't taste anything like what we mean in England when we say 'pie' - they don't really use pastry, more a kind of doughy substance (like that used in doughnuts). Having said that, there seem to be a million and one variants. The contents are often 'мяса' ( a generic term for meat, often pork but could beef - or horse for all I know ) or cabbage or often potatoes. Another linguisting derivative is 'пирожное' (sp?) which is a generic term for a variety of little cakes. Often very tasty and cheap.

пельмени- well I could go on listing food like this forever. Actually I don't really like these. They're a bit like ravioli

There's stuff like tvarog, kefir and other fermented stuff but I just can't handle them.. maybe other people like it.


So how much does it cost to eat in Russia? In general, it is cheap compared to the west - anything up to 4 or 5 times cheaper depending on a host of factors.
Firstly, the price differential between restaurants and home cooking is significantly greater than in the West, usually. There are restaurants in Moscow which would be considered expensive in London (and I'm not talking about only the one or two very best restaurants). If you have the right kind of knowledge, you can find cheap places with good fresh food (I recently had good borsch for 5 roubles in Stavropol ) - but generally that's exactly the kind of knowledge that tourists lack.
When it comes to home cooking, the main bargains are traditional Russian foods, for example:
bread - 5 -10 roubles max. for a loaf.
Things like carrots, beetroot, potatoes, apples - all go for a handful of roubles per kilo. Dead cheap.
The real rip off are pre-processed western style foods. In many cases, I have seen such things to be as expensive or more expensive than in London.
I met one spanish student here who claimed he could live on 50R a day for food, and I believe him more or less. I think 100R is a reasonable figure, allowing the odd luxury like a bar of chocolate (15R might be a typical price there).

Drink is also very cheap. 20-30R gets you a big bottle of beer, and you can get a bottle of champagne for under 100R (and a headache too )

...enough for today !

[/b]

Originally Posted by waxwing

мяса

мясо

Hey, stop talking about my favorite foods, you're making me hungry and I'm stuck here in the west where foods such as борщ and пельмени (If I butchered the spelling, please correct me) don't exist, except in my imagination.
Although, I was at the store the other day, and I saw something called Mrs. T's Perogies. Figured I'd try them, even though they claim to be polish. Turns out they're pretty close, and good enough to satisfy me until I can get back to Russia and eat some real food.

And as to why Russians are so much thinner than their Western counterparts - they eat less junk and get more exercise daily. Can't just sit in a car and order pizza on the average Russian budget.

waxwing

Why didn't you say anything about SHAURMA, SHAVERMA and KEBAB? I mean the real SHAURMA/SHAVERMA/PROPER FALAFEL/KEBAB (yummy!) they serve on a plate with rice and veggies and a piece of pita bread and a glass of freshly squeezed orange/apple/carrot juice, not those horrible falafel miscarriages they sell in kiosks and call 'shaverma', yuck.

And what about CAVIAR VINDALOO ?

Hey, stop talking about my favorite foods, you're making me hungry and I'm stuck here in the west where foods such as борщ and пельмени (If I butchered the spelling, please correct me) don't exist, except in my imagination.
Although, I was at the store the other day, and I saw something called Mrs. T's Perogies. Figured I'd try them, even though they claim to be polish. Turns out they're pretty close, and good enough to satisfy me until I can get back to Russia and eat some real food.

I don't mean to invite contention, but surely this is taking Russophilia to a new and dangerous extreme . 'The West' far outstrips Russia in culinary terms, doesn't it?

No contention here, just a little bit of growling from my stomach.

hmm.mmm....mmmm....i love borsch

Originally Posted by joysof

I don't mean to invite contention, but surely this is taking Russophilia to a new and dangerous extreme . 'The West' far outstrips Russia in culinary terms, doesn't it?

Sure thing. Considering that "The West" is what? 'bout 30 countries? Any one country will lose. Even if you single out France it will go down the drains. But a combination of the French and the Russian cuisines may just be it especially if your throw in the Caucasian stuff oh and the Wiener Schnitzel... along with Hungarian salami...

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

waxwing

Why didn't you say anything about SHAURMA, SHAVERMA and KEBAB? I mean the real SHAURMA/SHAVERMA/PROPER FALAFEL/KEBAB (yummy!) they serve on a plate with rice and veggies and a piece of pita bread and a glass of freshly squeezed orange/apple/carrot juice, not those horrible falafel miscarriages they sell in kiosks and call 'shaverma', yuck.

And what about CAVIAR VINDALOO ?

It is not native Russian food! It is Caucasian! But nowadays it is really popular as fast food.

Although it is not very good for healf, imho.

I hang my head in shame for not mentioning blinis .. c krasnoy ikroy ..

dribble.. dribble

oh and of course buterbrot etc.

but caviar vindaloo?? wtf is that?

Originally Posted by waxwing

oh and of course buterbrot etc.

Here the full credit is due to our Teutonic friends.

Originally Posted by Alexandr_S

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

waxwing

Why didn't you say anything about SHAURMA, SHAVERMA and KEBAB? I mean the real SHAURMA/SHAVERMA/PROPER FALAFEL/KEBAB (yummy!) they serve on a plate with rice and veggies and a piece of pita bread and a glass of freshly squeezed orange/apple/carrot juice, not those horrible falafel miscarriages they sell in kiosks and call 'shaverma', yuck.

And what about CAVIAR VINDALOO ?

It is not native Russian food! It is Caucasian! But nowadays it is really popular as fast food.

Although it is not very good for healf, imho.

And who are the Russians if not Caucasian... Anyway, who cares that its origins lie outside Russia? So what? Is chicken vindaloo Anglo-Saxon to the bone? But without it I'd say the English have no food at all, just bubble-and-squeaking fodder. (Well, maybe roast beef with Yorkshire pudding could be their only saving grace). The Scots really rock with their haggis, but. The best food I've ever tasted, by the way.

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

And who are the Russians if not Caucasian... Anyway, who cares that its origins lie outside Russia? So what? Is chicken vindaloo Anglo-Saxon to the bone? But without it I'd say the English have no food at all, just bubble-and-squeaking fodder. (Well, maybe roast beef with Yorkshire pudding could be their only saving grace). The Scots really rock with their haggis, but. The best food I've ever tasted, by the way.

Vindaloo is insanity. I once bet a friend I could eat one. I lost the bet, and gladly too after my nose went purple.
By the way, you must be taking the p**s about haggis. It's vile.

Originally Posted by waxwing

By the way, you must be taking the p**s about haggis. It's vile.

Absolutely not. I was dead serious about it. I absolutely adore haggis. I think it's the best food in the world. I'm sure that if there is a place called heaven they serve haggis there too. And whenever I eat haggis, I always recite that poem by Robert Burns - 'Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, great chieftain o' the pudding race, etc", it's absolutely delicious. And when I have guests and we're having haggis for dinner we pass it round and introduce it to each other - 'May I introduce my friend Hamish?' and then I recite the poem or if I'm on my own and eating haggis, I also recite the poem before tucking in.

Originally Posted by waxwing

but caviar vindaloo?? wtf is that?

It's what Lister ordered in that swanky restaurant in Better Than Life... Yes, I *was* extracting the urine...but only here, elsewhere I was dead serious.

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

Originally Posted by Alexandr_S

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

waxwing

Why didn't you say anything about SHAURMA, SHAVERMA and KEBAB? I mean the real SHAURMA/SHAVERMA/PROPER FALAFEL/KEBAB (yummy!) they serve on a plate with rice and veggies and a piece of pita bread and a glass of freshly squeezed orange/apple/carrot juice, not those horrible falafel miscarriages they sell in kiosks and call 'shaverma', yuck.

And what about CAVIAR VINDALOO ?

It is not native Russian food! It is Caucasian! But nowadays it is really popular as fast food.

Although it is not very good for healf, imho.

And who are the Russians if not Caucasian...

You're confusing an American term (white) and geographical (region of Caucasus). Alexandr_S meant the latter. So it can't be considered Russian food, though it became quite popular in Russia lately.
BTW I think KEBAB comes from Turkey though I'm not sure...

See what I was talking about in my other post?

Isn't VendingMachine Russian, though? I'd think Russians would understand the use of that term better.

Originally Posted by Pravit

See what I was talking about in my other post?

Isn't VendingMachine Russian, though? I'd think Russians would understand the use of that term better.

Well, I've been taught since day one by my English teachers that Caucasian means "of the white race", and isn't related to the Russian word "кавказец" hence the many stupid translation errors in American films dubbed into Russian.

Originally Posted by roxfan

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

Originally Posted by Alexandr_S

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

waxwing

Why didn't you say anything about SHAURMA, SHAVERMA and KEBAB? I mean the real SHAURMA/SHAVERMA/PROPER FALAFEL/KEBAB (yummy!) they serve on a plate with rice and veggies and a piece of pita bread and a glass of freshly squeezed orange/apple/carrot juice, not those horrible falafel miscarriages they sell in kiosks and call 'shaverma', yuck.

And what about CAVIAR VINDALOO ?

It is not native Russian food! It is Caucasian! But nowadays it is really popular as fast food.

Although it is not very good for healf, imho.

And who are the Russians if not Caucasian...

You're confusing an American term (white) and geographical (region of Caucasus). Alexandr_S meant the latter. So it can't be considered Russian food, though it became quite popular in Russia lately.
BTW I think KEBAB comes from Turkey though I'm not sure...

Do you mean Russian food in terms of "of Slavic origin" or in terms of "food popular with citizens of Russia, what they eat on a daily basis"? I say that I'm Russian in terms of where I come from, but in terms of having mostly Slavic blood in my veins I'm just about as Russian as I am a Bolshoy Theater prima balerina. True, there is a trickle of Russian blood in my veins, but still... Since I obviously do not qualify by your definition of what Russian is, my culinary preferences are of little importance. OK, fine, my lips are sealed. Stay with your preconceived ideas.

P.S.
Typical this, innit? First they ask what kind of food Russian people eat, pretending their interest is genuine, then, when they get an opinion which contradicts their preconceived ideas (of borsht and blini s ikroi) in this case, they become stubborn and won't change their opinion no matter what. Sad but true - most people come to Russia to see their stereotypes of Russia and when they fail to see them (because they've been brainwashed all along and these stereotypes are exactly what they are - stereotypes), they return home thinking they've been cheated on their tour cos they didn't see the 'real' Russia, that is the Russia of their stereotypes. I rest my case.

I just got back from 3 weeks in a part of Russia with no MacDonalds too (not that I'd eat that filth if my life depended on it anyway). Thought I'd chime in on the thread so far

Go Go Blanket-Generalisation Mode!!

Russian food: varied but pretty bland, though practical. I was enormously glad to get home to my own kitchen and fridge though.

Russian physiques: everyone is pretty thin and fit-looking, apart from every single woman over 35 years old, who are all huge.

Haggis: rocks, end of story.

More later, time permitting.