You guessed it, this post is all about food. Eating is one of my favourite pastimes and thankfully Russia has stepped up to the challenge of providing some delicious edibles. You may remember that I whined about food for my first month here (because there was a distinct shortage of meat) but since then I’ve grown accustomed to a more streamlined figure, taken a liking to cabbage pies and found out where to buy salami. So how to introduce you to Russian cuisine? Well let’s dive in head first…
I told my host mother about my nasal congestion last week and was immediately subjected to some Russian household treatments. That is, consuming an onion, two cloves of garlic and a shot of vodka. Straight, obviously. While this seems like a sick practical joke that left me wafting an unattractive aroma for days, I was converted and will certainly be eating garlic from now on when I’m sick. Get used to it America.
Thankfully my meals involve more normal foods. I’ve managed to snap a couple photos when I’m eating by myself, but it’s a little unusual to photograph meals before you eat them. Okay I just ran to the fridge and have returned with a picture of some ‘shee’. Shee is a clear soup, this time involving cabbage, carrots, potato, onion, green pepper and various parts of a chicken.
While fats may be necessary to keep my body functioning at -30 degrees, I will never be able to get used to mayonnaise container this big. 3 kilos?? That's just plain ridiculous.
So I eat soup pretty much every dinner. On nights like last night I’m also granted a cutlet and a pile of ‘grechka’ (buckwheat). These are always warmly received. The cutlets are delicious! I’m told the meat is a mix of beef and pork and there are sauted onions mixed in. The grechka is also terrific. Apparently this only grows in Russia?? Here’s a picture for the curious amongst you: http://ifs.cook-time.com/preview/img110/110324.jpg If you’ve seen anything similar in the US let me know!
Alright I’m following no particular order so let’s skip to breakfast. Breakfast is generally the same every day, a combination of bread and kasha. This morning I had a slice of bread with chocolate spread and a slice of bread with some salami. Russians call this single slice creation a sandwich. They really have no idea what they’re missing out on. So with this semi-sandwich goes a ton of kasha, with which I battle every breakfast. It's certainly a challenge to finish. (No, I haven’t failed. Please... I’m a professional.) Oh and kasha generally means hot cereal, in my case oatmeal, cream of wheat, rice pudding or millet. I love all hot cereals so no complaints from me!
I’ve got a couple other pictures here… The first is some eggplant pancakes that I had a week ago. I think it was eggplant. They could also have been made from long, thick white stalks that were sitting on the counter. Honestly I was too busy gorging myself to stop and ask. I paused only after consuming dozens of these pancakes to take the following photo:
Here they’re covered in a delectable, homemade blackcurrant jam. That jam tastes good on pretty much everything. It’s regularly used for blini (Russian pancakes) alongside sweetened condensed milk. While I’m talking about fruit from the dacha I should mention that there’s also been a lot of compote. In Russia that means fruit stew, in my case from plums, blackcurrants and apples from the dacha. It’s in the fridge all week. This is something else I’ll have to bring back to the states!
The next picture has me incredibly excited. Now I get to talk about pies. You’re probably thinking of the fruit pies of America, cherry, peach and berry… And now you’re salivating, ha! True, those also exist here and I regularly do battle with them at the supermarket (It’s a tough choice between fruit pie and foods that are more likely to keep me alive). BUT I am talking about pies that come from shop across the street from my house. These tend to be cabbage, potato and onion, amongst others. Pictured below are a cabbage pie and a hot dog in a roll:
Again, who ever thought I’d become such a fan of cabbage pie?? Either Russian cabbage is nothing like cabbage elsewhere in the world or again my tastebuds are learning to just make do with what they have. There’s nothing like biting into a soft, warm cabbage pie when it’s cold outside. The taste of caramelised cabbage within… Well you’ll have to come and try it yourself. There really are no words to describe the experience.
Okay, well now I’m out of photos so this introduction may be coming to an end. I haven’t mentioned lunch at all but that’s because I buy that myself and in general it’s pretty standard… At the moment I’m eating a loaf of bread and drinking a bottle of чудо. Classic. Part two of my lunch will be my after-gym snack – a litre of whole milk and three scoops of protein powder. Don’t give me that look. They may be delicious but a person can’t survive off soup and cabbage pies. Look at how weird that made the Russians.
Well that’s pretty much it from me. Wait, no! Here are two pictures of my cat, Yemelia, that I’ve been meaning to put up for a while. In true feline style he played it cool at first, making it difficult to get a good picture.
That’s really all from me this time. I hope you’re all well! If you have an idea for a blog post let me know, these days it’s getting hard to remember what I have shared and what remains a mystery!
Turns out those are squash pancakes! Yum...
ReplyDeleteSquash pancakes, Yum indeed! We obviously have to learn to make better and more varied use of of vegetables - not just steam them!
ReplyDeleteSo what was it about those fish heads anyway...?
And what is it like at Smolny itself - in the neighborhood, inside the building, in the classrooms...? And what goes on at night in St. Petersburg? (You don't have to name names!)
Vicarious international living. I like it.
And tell us all about taking exams in Russia!
ReplyDelete