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Oh, it's interesting to hear. And Sudbury is how old?
Sudbury was founded in 1893. Tyumen just turned 430 years old. I know that's way off, but Tyumen just looks straight out of North America.
It's all relative anyways. I was listening to a podcast a few days ago where Chelsea Handler of all people stated she should have went to St. Petersburg over Moscow to experience 'historical' Russia. Lol. It's 300 years old. Montreal existed before Petersburg. Still, Petersburg looks like it belongs in Western Europe and it would be on everyone's travel itineraries right before Rome or Paris. It really is extravagant and looks way older than it is.
Also, is kvass supposed to be sweet? I've tried a bottled kind and it was like Coca-Cola infused with rye bread. I tried some out of a street vendor's giant metal drum and felt the same way.
As for the food, I feel like everyday Russians must have the most specific, traditional-derived diet of any place I've been in Europe. It's all potatoes, cabbage, and meat in soup/salad/roast variations and almost always served with a heap of Smetana and dill. Bread is nearly mandatory with everything. It reminds me of what my mom used to feed me as a child. Just the heaviest of foods. I like it, though. The only thing I've found off-putting is the kielbossa I see a lot of people eating. It's just a tube of pink mystery stuff with the girth of a fist. How much of that can be actual meat?
Yes, kvass can be sweet. Sugar is added for fermentation. There are many recipes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse44
The only thing I've found off-putting is the kielbossa I see a lot of people eating. It's just a tube of pink mystery stuff with the girth of a fist. How much of that can be actual meat?
Sausage can be of different manufacturers. Usually, it's delicious, but pretty greasy.
Try "salo". I think it will be interesting for you.
Sudbury was founded in 1893. Tyumen just turned 430 years old. I know that's way off, but Tyumen just looks straight out of North America.
It's all relative anyways. I was listening to a podcast a few days ago where Chelsea Handler of all people stated she should have went to St. Petersburg over Moscow to experience 'historical' Russia. Lol. It's 300 years old. Montreal existed before Petersburg. Still, Petersburg looks like it belongs in Western Europe and it would be on everyone's travel itineraries right before Rome or Paris. It really is extravagant and looks way older than it is.
Also, is kvass supposed to be sweet? I've tried a bottled kind and it was like Coca-Cola infused with rye bread. I tried some out of a street vendor's giant metal drum and felt the same way.
As for the food, I feel like everyday Russians must have the most specific, traditional-derived diet of any place I've been in Europe. It's all potatoes, cabbage, and meat in soup/salad/roast variations and almost always served with a heap of Smetana and dill. Bread is nearly mandatory with everything. It reminds me of what my mom used to feed me as a child. Just the heaviest of foods. I like it, though. The only thing I've found off-putting is the kielbossa I see a lot of people eating. It's just a tube of pink mystery stuff with the girth of a fist. How much of that can be actual meat?
Well Tyumen didn't become a large city untill after WWII when all industry from central Russia was moved behind the Urals to protect it from Nazi bombs, then the city really took off when oil was discovered in the area in the 60s so that explains the young look, but even then there are a lot of historical buildings, I'm pretty sure you won't find this kind of look in North America except for maybe a few of the colonial cities.
Sudbury was founded in 1893. Tyumen just turned 430 years old. I know that's way off, but Tyumen just looks straight out of North America.
It's all relative anyways. I was listening to a podcast a few days ago where Chelsea Handler of all people stated she should have went to St. Petersburg over Moscow to experience 'historical' Russia. Lol. It's 300 years old.
Sadly enough, Chelsea Handler might be right.
The "new Russians" destroyed so much of the historic part of the city, turning Moscow in some megalopolis a-la New-York, that from historic point of view it makes more sense now to go to St. Petersburg. Yes, sad but true.
Quote:
Montreal existed before Petersburg. Still, Petersburg looks like it belongs in Western Europe and it would be on everyone's travel itineraries right before Rome or Paris. It really is extravagant and looks way older than it is.
I always enjoyed visiting St. Pet and I was looking forward going there. But I wouldn't want to live in St. Pet; climate is worse than in Moscow, plus as far as social life goes, Moscow was always the place to be. St. Pet - not so much. More like a city-museum.
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Also, is kvass supposed to be sweet? I've tried a bottled kind and it was like Coca-Cola infused with rye bread. I tried some out of a street vendor's giant metal drum and felt the same way.
I am a bit hesitant to give you an answer. See, back in Soviet times, when I was growing up, there were few staple things around of consistently good quality, and kvass was one of them. It was basically of the same taste, sold from those big barrels and no, it was not sweet at all - it was rather on a tart side. It was a fermented drink, with bubbles ( sort of like beer bubbles,) and didn't taste anything like Cola or Pepsi, which I don't like at all. With that being said, quality of bread in Russia went down as well ( comparably to Soviet times,) so I can be only guessing what they are doing now to kvass. From what I read on-line, the bottled kvass is "kvass" in the name only, since it's full of different kinds of chemicals/additives now, which real kvass can't have. I see the same questioning regarding kvass sold on the streets from newer, "more advanced" equipment - how good/real is it. So, sorry to say - I am not sure what to tell you in this respect.
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As for the food, I feel like everyday Russians must have the most specific, traditional-derived diet of any place I've been in Europe. It's all potatoes, cabbage, and meat in soup/salad/roast variations and almost always served with a heap of Smetana and dill.
It is probably so. This type of food goes along very well with cold climate AND intensive labor, lol. How this food can work otherwise, without finishing one off is a mystery to me)))
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Bread is nearly mandatory with everything. It reminds me of what my mom used to feed me as a child. Just the heaviest of foods.
There we go. I was trying to tell you that you'd like it, if you are a "meat and potatoes" kind of a person ( although Russians DO know how to put vegetables to use too, in the best way possible.) Overall I'd say Russians know how to cook well on a daily basis. As a bonus, I still had grandparents and great-grand-parents, that kept the traditional Russian recipes in the family from pre-revolutionary times, and the feasts on certain occasions were amazing, with all kind of baked stuff and stuffed stuff and anything in-between. But I was spending with them mostly summers on their dacha, or winter holidays, so needless to say we were running around like crazy and that kind of food was a good thing back then, NOT down the road, lol.
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I like it, though. The only thing I've found off-putting is the kielbossa I see a lot of people eating. It's just a tube of pink mystery stuff with the girth of a fist. How much of that can be actual meat?
Not quite sure what it is, since the last time I've been there, I could see that they've "tweaked" few things around. What you seem to describe here, I can guess one particular thing that was around back in the day, and it was quite staple in many Russian families ( the best way to describe it was some kind of "bologna sausage.") But in my family they were questioning the same thing - "how much it could be actual meat" so it was usually never bought or consumed. I was discouraged from using bread with meals too by the way - so I am not used to it, but I DID FIND the SMETANA BRAND IN US THAT TASTES LIKE RUSSIAN ONE. HELL YEAH))))
It's all relative anyways. I was listening to a podcast a few days ago where Chelsea Handler of all people stated she should have went to St. Petersburg over Moscow to experience 'historical' Russia. Lol. It's 300 years old. Montreal existed before Petersburg. Still, Petersburg looks like it belongs in Western Europe and it would be on everyone's travel itineraries right before Rome or Paris. It really is extravagant and looks way older than it is.
I have no idea who Chelsea Handler is, I am not going to look up now, but I have to kind of agree.
St. Petersburg represents the "golden age" (best I could come up with) of the Russian Empire, a time of rich cultural history in Russia. While there are places older than it, that does not mean they are the best representation. There are small dinky towns older the NYC, but that does not mean they represent the US more than NYC. Of course there are older towns in Russia, but in my opinion none of them represent Russia more so than St. Petersburg from a historical perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse44
Also, is kvass supposed to be sweet? I've tried a bottled kind and it was like Coca-Cola infused with rye bread. I tried some out of a street vendor's giant metal drum and felt the same way.
It can be from hardly sweet to very sweet. Kvass comes in all ways depending on how the fermentation quality is. Also, there is kvass out there made with concentrate, what I like to call "fake", but it is made sort of like coke where they add carbonated water to a concentrate.
You have to try a few kvass brands to settle on a couple you really like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse44
As for the food, I feel like everyday Russians must have the most specific, traditional-derived diet of any place I've been in Europe. It's all potatoes, cabbage, and meat in soup/salad/roast variations and almost always served with a heap of Smetana and dill. Bread is nearly mandatory with everything. It reminds me of what my mom used to feed me as a child. Just the heaviest of foods. I like it, though. The only thing I've found off-putting is the kielbossa I see a lot of people eating. It's just a tube of pink mystery stuff with the girth of a fist. How much of that can be actual meat?
There are all kinds of sausages (I refer to them all as "ham"), and some of course will be a pink slime, others will be outstanding quality you cannot get enough of. I think I know the one you are talking about, it is very popular and a good price, I am not a fan of it. But it is generally good quality, but there are those who will cheat the system and put fillers in it. Locals usually know what and where to buy, look for popular markets.
In Kazan, we found a small public canteen called Kulinaria in the main street, which offered very inexpensive food for average workers. We ate there 2-3 times and the meals mostly consisted in cabbage, soups, kind of baked doughs, potatoes and salads. Wareniki, Pelmeni etc too, we liked it very much at that time.
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