I have similar likes in Russian food. For soup Rassolnik, Shchi, Borsch and my favorite is Solyanka. Salo is not as popular in Russia as in Ukraine but after spending time there in an eastern Ukraine village with my then GF relatives, where I was introduced to Salo properly, icy cold, black bread and frozen vodka. I am not a vodka drink normally but it was a pretty addicting combination. That GF was very old-school traditional Russian and her version of Borsch was fantastic. Friends would invite themselves over when she was making it, an all-day process. But just like spaghetti sauce, every family has their own definition of it and no restaurant has the same recipe. In the early spring, the smell of fresh cucumbers means the Russian Smelt is running. The small fish are fried whole and devoured by bucket full. Grandmothers sell them outside subway stations, where they sell flowers and vegetables from their dacha all summer then forest mushrooms in the fall. A lot of Westerners associate Russia with vodka but it is way down in popularity replaced by beers from around the world and wine. A typical grocery store will have 150 brands of imported beers( but most are brewed in Russia under license). English-style pubs became very popular in the early 2000s and here in St Petersburg, there are over 500 in the city center. My favorite drink, ice cold is Kvas, a strange very lightly fermented traditionally homemade drink based on Russian black bread. Home-made versions have up to about 0.4% alcohol but what is commercially made, had none. It is naturally carbonated...I am having a glass as I type. Far better than any surgery soft drinks and cheaper. During the Soviet era and into the 90s it was common to see large tanks on 2 wheel carriages parked in neighborhoods where everyone would come to fill up their own containers for a low price. The same way milk was distributed. In the outlying areas of cities, you can still find them sometimes. I have made it myself many times, following the family recipe of an elderly neighbor in my first apartment. It is not hard to make but does require careful attention to details because it can form a mold that ruins the natural fermenting process. I drink it ice cold but most Russians do not like cold drinks. The kids like cold western-style soft drinks but their parents and grandparents don't. One thing that is very different in cities in the US and Russia is the variety of places where fresh fruit, vegetable, tea, meats, dairy products, cheese, fish are available. Everyone is with 100 meters of small specialty shops of unpackaged fresh food products. Within 1 city block of my apartment are 7 bakeries that bake all morning starting at about 4am and are sold out by noon. 4 shops that have dairy fresh dairy products, and people line up to buy fresh sweet sourcream called Smetana that goes with everything from soups, salads and baked items. It is different than what is sour cream in the west but looks the same. There are also 9 pet food shops, 4 exotic tea shops with hundreds of varieties of tea. Tea is THE Russian drink, hot tea summer or winter. My GF keeps about 30 types of tea and that is my job, keeping her cup full, which she changes type every hour or so. All my past GFs were tea experts and when traveling to exotic lands, they bought local specialty teas of all types. In the west city centers do not have much access to fresh foods and in poor neighborhoods, there are none, not even grocery stores in the US, which some cite as a cause of the very high rate of obesity in poor inner cities in the US, just processed foods from convenience stores. There are large mega-groceries stores here but they are out of the city center and are for people who have cars. The best food is from these small specialty shops and sidewalk stands. Food looks good in large chain grocery stores here and back in the US but they do not taste like we grew up with. It is hard to find a tomato for example that tastes like tomatoes traditionally did 40 years ago in the US. They all look perfect but no flavor. Here, if one is interested in quality food fresh from gardens, it is available in every neighborhood at reasonable prices. People with cars go to large megastores and shop for weeks while those living in the city center with no need for a car shop for fresh daily. That daily shopping for flavor over looks, is one reason why there is such an obesity problem in the US. Like Italy and France, food is not stored long, it is used right after buying it like here. Also, most families have vegetable gardens in the country homes where grandmother and the kids spend much of the summer living the traditional way and growing flowers and vegetables before returning to the city in fall, with large bags of forest mushrooms. Last summer my GF and I lived at the dacha(country home) living off the land and returned to the city with 38kg of mushrooms and much more in fresh vegetables. Covid did not seem to exist in those rural areas, never saw anyone wear a mask or social distance, but the population density is very low. Keeping some traditions in foods and being connected to the land is one element in why people seem to be healthier. City people know where food comes from because they grow a lot of it
@@TheExpatEdge my wife and I make it with just water. Our son has it with honey and milk. My cheat is I mix in a poached egg or hard boiled if I’m lazy. Next all spice seasoning salt pepper and Tabasco sauce so I can’t taste the buckwheat! Just had a bowl before writing this.
Matt, today you surprised and won me over. You are the first foreigner for me, who likes "kholodets"👍🏻. However, in the picture, the dish looks more like "zalivnoe" (gelatin is added to it, but not added to the kholodets).
The first time I had Kholodets they explained it and I thought it was Gelatin. What a big and unpleasant surprise as I said I loved to eat it so they gave me extra portions and that is when I discovered what it was.
For soup Rassolnik, Shchi, Borsch and my favorite is Solyanka. Salo is not as popular in Russia as in Ukraine but after spending time there in an Eastern Ukraine village with my Friends. Where I was introduced to Salo properly, Icy Cold, Black Bread and Frozen Vodka. I am not a Vodka drink normally but it was a pretty addicting combination. 😍🌏
I have similar likes in Russian food. For soup Rassolnik, Shchi, Borsch and my favorite is Solyanka. Salo is not as popular in Russia as in Ukraine but after spending time there in an eastern Ukraine village with my then GF relatives, where I was introduced to Salo properly, icy cold, black bread and frozen vodka. I am not a vodka drink normally but it was a pretty addicting combination. That GF was very old-school traditional Russian and her version of Borsch was fantastic. Friends would invite themselves over when she was making it, an all-day process. But just like spaghetti sauce, every family has their own definition of it and no restaurant has the same recipe. In the early spring, the smell of fresh cucumbers means the Russian Smelt is running. The small fish are fried whole and devoured by bucket full. Grandmothers sell them outside subway stations, where they sell flowers and vegetables from their dacha all summer then forest mushrooms in the fall.
A lot of Westerners associate Russia with vodka but it is way down in popularity replaced by beers from around the world and wine. A typical grocery store will have 150 brands of imported beers( but most are brewed in Russia under license). English-style pubs became very popular in the early 2000s and here in St Petersburg, there are over 500 in the city center.
My favorite drink, ice cold is Kvas, a strange very lightly fermented traditionally homemade drink based on Russian black bread. Home-made versions have up to about 0.4% alcohol but what is commercially made, had none. It is naturally carbonated...I am having a glass as I type. Far better than any surgery soft drinks and cheaper. During the Soviet era and into the 90s it was common to see large tanks on 2 wheel carriages parked in neighborhoods where everyone would come to fill up their own containers for a low price. The same way milk was distributed. In the outlying areas of cities, you can still find them sometimes. I have made it myself many times, following the family recipe of an elderly neighbor in my first apartment. It is not hard to make but does require careful attention to details because it can form a mold that ruins the natural fermenting process. I drink it ice cold but most Russians do not like cold drinks. The kids like cold western-style soft drinks but their parents and grandparents don't.
One thing that is very different in cities in the US and Russia is the variety of places where fresh fruit, vegetable, tea, meats, dairy products, cheese, fish are available. Everyone is with 100 meters of small specialty shops of unpackaged fresh food products. Within 1 city block of my apartment are 7 bakeries that bake all morning starting at about 4am and are sold out by noon. 4 shops that have dairy fresh dairy products, and people line up to buy fresh sweet sourcream called Smetana that goes with everything from soups, salads and baked items. It is different than what is sour cream in the west but looks the same. There are also 9 pet food shops, 4 exotic tea shops with hundreds of varieties of tea. Tea is THE Russian drink, hot tea summer or winter. My GF keeps about 30 types of tea and that is my job, keeping her cup full, which she changes type every hour or so. All my past GFs were tea experts and when traveling to exotic lands, they bought local specialty teas of all types. In the west city centers do not have much access to fresh foods and in poor neighborhoods, there are none, not even grocery stores in the US, which some cite as a cause of the very high rate of obesity in poor inner cities in the US, just processed foods from convenience stores. There are large mega-groceries stores here but they are out of the city center and are for people who have cars. The best food is from these small specialty shops and sidewalk stands. Food looks good in large chain grocery stores here and back in the US but they do not taste like we grew up with. It is hard to find a tomato for example that tastes like tomatoes traditionally did 40 years ago in the US. They all look perfect but no flavor. Here, if one is interested in quality food fresh from gardens, it is available in every neighborhood at reasonable prices. People with cars go to large megastores and shop for weeks while those living in the city center with no need for a car shop for fresh daily. That daily shopping for flavor over looks, is one reason why there is such an obesity problem in the US. Like Italy and France, food is not stored long, it is used right after buying it like here. Also, most families have vegetable gardens in the country homes where grandmother and the kids spend much of the summer living the traditional way and growing flowers and vegetables before returning to the city in fall, with large bags of forest mushrooms. Last summer my GF and I lived at the dacha(country home) living off the land and returned to the city with 38kg of mushrooms and much more in fresh vegetables. Covid did not seem to exist in those rural areas, never saw anyone wear a mask or social distance, but the population density is very low.
Keeping some traditions in foods and being connected to the land is one element in why people seem to be healthier. City people know where food comes from because they grow a lot of it
100% !!! С новым годом!
It took my wife 7 years to get me to enjoy buckwheat. I use to hate it now I enjoy it for breakfast.
Cooked in milk like hot cereal? Over 10 years and I still can't acquire that taste.
@@TheExpatEdge my wife and I make it with just water. Our son has it with honey and milk. My cheat is I mix in a poached egg or hard boiled if I’m lazy. Next all spice seasoning salt pepper and Tabasco sauce so I can’t taste the buckwheat! Just had a bowl before writing this.
You are the first American who said they like kholodets!!!
Matt, today you surprised and won me over.
You are the first foreigner for me, who likes "kholodets"👍🏻.
However, in the picture, the dish looks more like "zalivnoe" (gelatin is added to it, but not added to the kholodets).
It's 22:23 and by the time you've mentioned salo I got hungry 😂
You mentioning that we mentioned SALO got me hungry : )
I am crazy about RUSSIANS, and I love the food.
The first time I had Kholodets they explained it and I thought it was Gelatin. What a big and unpleasant surprise as I said I loved to eat it so they gave me extra portions and that is when I discovered what it was.
For soup Rassolnik, Shchi, Borsch and my favorite is Solyanka. Salo is not as popular in Russia as in Ukraine but after spending time there in an Eastern Ukraine village with my Friends. Where I was introduced to Salo properly, Icy Cold, Black Bread and Frozen Vodka. I am not a Vodka drink normally but it was a pretty addicting combination. 😍🌏
If you find a Russian store in your state you’ll find сырки :) Utah has them :)
I love Russian potato salad!!!!
Damn, those look tasty.
Наконец попался иностранец, который любит холодец XDD
Paper thin salo is stroganina, I think.
Зефир в шоколаде, сгущёнка!)
Жена Маркуса обожает зефир в шоколаде как и многие русские наверное.
Пацаны! Ю-ху! Почему я только сегодня напал на ваш каналл??