A Russian Appetite

For this week’s post, I’ll be telling you about my experience with Russian food, what I eat, like and not like.

Okay… Firstly, they practically have everything we have at home in South Africa. The main difference would be some ingredients and products for more traditional foods they eat as part of their culture. Like you won’t find boerewors but you will find ingredients labeled for “plov” or “borscht”. Two of their most popular dishes.

What you will find, is food items like tuna…

Quick side insert:

My mom once offered to buy some tuna for me because they were on sale at Checkers. Then when I would go home, I could pack them in and bring them back with me. I had to assure her that we have tuna here! 😀 Shame she was just worried and thought she could help out. Love you mom!!!

…spaghetti bolognese ingredients, sweet corn etc. I mean you will even find already made pancakes, in frozen packages. That’s not even something we have, not that I know of, and we also have pancakes as a traditional South African food. We mainly eat it with cinnamon sugar and also sometimes with mince and cheese. They eat it with jam of different types but also sometimes with meat. (Russians do have a sweet tooth, that’s for sure!)

Anyways. Let’s talk about some traditional Russian dishes I’ve tried.

Borscht

It’s a statement soup with its main ingredient being beetroot. It’s typically made by combining meat or bone stock with sautéed vegetables, which – as well as beetroot – usually include cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, and tomatoes. It could also be served as a vegetarian dish without the meat. I’ve tried this soup, and it was actually really tasty. I won’t go as far as to say it’s a favorite, but I will definitely have it again.

 

Russian Salad

Also known as Olivier Salad. This is a very delicious salad. It’s usually made with diced, boiled potatoes, carrots, brined dill pickles, green peas, eggs, celeriac, onions, diced chicken (ham or bologna sausage), tart apples, with salt, pepper and mustard added for taste, dressed with mayonnaise. The times when I had this salad, there were no apples in and there was bologna sausage instead of chicken.

Personally I would prefer chicken, because I don’t really like sausages like this. Also I’m not really a pickle fan, so I would leave that out as well. But in all it’s really delicious and you will find it everywhere here.

 

Cabbage Pie

Known as a Pirog…translation of pie. Another very tasty one! The cabbage pie is very popular. You also get different varieties. Some has different kinds of meats in, like beef, mince or chicken instead of cabbage. You will also get them with jam, making it a sweet pie instead of a savory one.

Other delicious popular dishes I’ve tried: (Manti and Pelmenie are almost alike)

Manti

Pelmenie

Plov

My all-time favorite would have to be the plof!

This is actually not listed as a traditional Russian dish but rather Kazakh (Kazakhstan), Azerbaijani, Kyrguz and places like that. But you can basically get it anywhere and even buy spices specifically labeled for plov.

It basically only consists of rice (brown or white), cooked onions, a mix of spices, carrots and meat. (I like it with beef)

These are foods I will have once in a while. Although plov is the one I had the most! 😀

Food is a lot cheaper to buy and make it yourself than what it is in South Africa. But some restaurants here can also be expensive, just like in SA.

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My usual diet is not that exciting, but I like it.

I eat as clean and healthy as possible.

For breakfast, I’ll have oats with cinnamon and a little bit of natural honey, scrambled egg or an omelet (now and then with bacon).  Sometimes I would buy a seeded little brown bread and make French toast. I brought Future Life from home, so on days when I go to the gym, I would have some as a pre-workout or sometimes for breakfast.

I have yogurt for a snack and I eat fruits like bananas, apples and naartjies (Tangerines). I will also have a cup of soup when I get hungry or just want to snack on something sometimes.

I eat protein, (meats like tuna, chicken or beef and bacon…sometimes. Fish, other than tuna, is a bit expensive and then you get so little for such an expensive price) and veggies every day! I would have salads for lunch, because they are easy to make and take to university. I eat other garbs, besides veggies, like potatoes and rice, but in a limited amount.

As you can see, my diet isn’t exotic with new things. I like to keep to what I know works for and with my body. That does not mean I won’t have a treat, aka plov 😀 , sometimes. But I try to keep it healthy and still enjoy life!

Here is some of my food:

Mince, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots

 

Rice and Beef with mixed veggies

 

Chicken and broccoli with a salad

(I do eat potatoes every now and then as well, I just don’t have a picture for you guys.)

I hope you guys enjoyed this post. It’s dedicated to Kateryna! Thank you Katia for the request!

Any other requests are welcome!

Have a lovely week everyone!

Talk to you guys soon.

To Live is To Dance

xoxo