In Which B Dissects Russian Cuisine

These cows need to move here for some real food!

Those who know me (B), know how much I like to eat. One of the best parts of living in another country is discovering different foods. Russia is no exception. As mentioned in previous posts, Russians not only have different tastes but have a different view of what is healthy and what is not. In case you have forgotten, they generally think of ice as unhealthy and mayonnaise as healthy (yet they eat ice cream like it is going out of style, even when it's cold). Another interesting fact is how they view vodka. Besides being used to get drunk, it is also widely used as a remedy for several aliments. For example, we've heard interesting stories about how drinking vodka can actually save you from freezing to death, especially with pepper in it.

Russians also like to use hot tea with herbs and spices as a remedy for illnesses. I actually have to give credit to this since it worked on me. I was in class one day when I started having some "stomach issues." After I got back from one of many trips to the bathroom, my teacher had prepared a cup of hot (which to a Russian actually means boiling) tea without sugar and told me drink it as fast as I could. Ten minutes later I had finished the cup, and a few minutes later the spasms stopped and I felt much better the rest of the day! These are only a few examples of how Russians like to use their food for remedies.

Of course, they like to eat their food too. Though I have had occasional cravings for American foods (some Bojangle's would be nice!), for the most part we try to eat like the Russians do, and really most of their food is very good. Below are several pictures of what is popular here:

борщ (borshch) - this is a kind of soup, usually made from beets and cabbage, but ingredients beyond that are up to the individual. We really like borshch, and though people do eat it cold I prefer it hot. It's usually served as shown above with a nice dollop of sour cream on top.

Шашлык (shashlik) - This is a very popular, and very tasty dish. It comes a lot of different ways (one of the most common is to roast it over a fire on a skewer) but usually includes pork and some kind of sauce. This is from a restaurant we visited, so it included fries and a few salads.

блины (blini) - These are kind of like the Russian version of crepes or pancakes. You can have them with lots of things on top: sour cream, caviar, jam, cinnamon/sugar, and even cheese and meat. Very, very good, and very addictive. Seriously, once you have one you never stop until you've eaten about eight of them.

This is just a general collection of foods you might see at a party or gathering. This is actually an older picture of a get-together we had at our friends' place. You can see more blini in the background there behind the potatoes and veggies.

пельмени (pel'meni) - These are like dumplings stuffed with meat and steamed. Served with sour cream (are you noticing a pattern?), and eaten any time of day. Here J's language helper has ordered them for his breakfast with coffee and a pasta salad.

These kiosks are everywhere on the street, selling grilled chicken for really reasonable prices (around $5 for a chicken). J thinks it's almost as good as Pollo Moderno in Bolivia, if lacking the excellent rice and platano accompaniment.

This is a sasiski kiosk, which sells lots of different kinds of sausages and bologna. We're still not sure exactly what Russians do with these (eat them with bread like we would in the US and Western Europe? By themselves?) so that's a question for our culture helpers, I guess, but they must do something with it because these are everywhere.

Not all Russian cuisine is as delicious as blini or shashlik, though. This stuff looks deceptively like milk, but it's actually called kefir. It's quite a nasty beverage that Russians actually like to drink, though it tastes like something your "organic" friends might eat right between the non-fat granola bar and their daily slice of tofu. It's made, and I quote from wikipedia here, in this way: "fermentation of the lactose yields a sour, carbonated, slightly alcoholic beverage, with a consistency similar to thin yogurt." And, to my mind, it tastes as nasty as that sounds.

As far as how we're doing, everything is going well. We'd appreciate your thoughts as we mull over some options for our future, but other than that it's just language study. Oh, and we had some snow yesterday (just a few flurries, and nothing stuck), so fall is pretty much just a memory at this point. It lasted all of what, a month? Anyway, we're pretty much OK, just plugging away at our language and culture stuff.

Next we have the What Is It™ for the week. Last week we showed you a picture of a small separate house in the yard of the main home and asked for ideas on what you thought it might be. Though Lydia was actually quite close in supposing that it was a guest house, Carroll actually got it right on - it's a house for the older folks (at least, that what many people use them for). Your second guess, Carroll, incidentally - not as accurate. You still claim the point, though.

Actually, frequently the older folks are left living in the countryside year around, and they'll live in the main house during the winter. However, when summer comes and the younger family comes out to the country for their extended visit (they usually work in the cities), the babushka and dedushka will head out and sleep in the little houselet. So there you go.

This week we have more of an "around-the-house" item. Can you guess what this signifies? As usual, leave your guess in the comments, and the first person (with certain exceptions) to get it right wins the point. Happy guessing!