My Russian Diet

"You're never going to be able to do it," Whitney sneered. "Why?" I responded. "Because, Russians put meat in EVERYTHING." Ok, yes, Russians do put meat into just about everything - vegetable soup is actually beef and vegetables; potato pancakes have chicken in them; cold carrot salad will have bits of chicken in it ... and so on. But keeping vegetarian hasn't been too bad for me.

You see, I've given up eating meat for Lent (except for fish, but even then I don't eat very much of it). This year, I am especially lucky because the Orthodox and Western Easters are on the same Sunday, so Lent is the same 40 days for both faiths, so Moscow is filled with "Post" [Lent] menus. These astrixed options on the menu have been my get-out-of-meat free cards for the past few weeks. So, instead of the meat soup - fish! Instead of carrot salads with chicken in them - beet salad! Instead of chicken-filled potato pancakes - regular potato pancakes! I'm in heaven.

My paradise of meal options has less to do with my reading Russian, and more to do with my ability to look at pictures. Teremok, a chain of crepe stands that can be found on many Moscow streets, serve great "e-mail" crepes [mushrooms and cheese] and ikra [red caviar, probably salmon] crepes. Delicious -- and easy to order because their larger than life pictures are on the McDonald's-like menu.

And there is McDonald's here! I went once - probably will never go again (it was a MADHOUSE), but there are some great McD's options here that you can't get in the states - like CHEESE McNUGGETS. Think chicken McNuggets, but filled with cheese instead. Yum! The strawberry-cranberry "dipping sauce," though ... um, no, not yum.

And of course there are the potato chips: sour cream and onion flavored, cheese, bacon, lamb, caviar, leek and cream, chicken, jalepeno ... and others. Why are these exotic Lays chip varieties not in the States???

Why must I use the term "exotic Lays chip varities?" That says something about our tastebuds, our American tastebuds. I don't know if Lays would have a run on caviar flavored potato chips in the states, or if fat-obessed America -- now super-sizing it criticism of McDonald's -- would buy deep friend cheese. Our tastes, and culture, are different.

I pondered this difference this afternoon as I ate my lunch -- a delicious eggplant spread (probably a sauce, like Ragu or something) on soft slices of bread with some Russian cheese and pickles, and a glass of kvas [a low-alcohol beer brewed from bread]. It's a "French lunch," as I call it, because I was watching a French film years ago, and the couple in it were going on a road trip to some country estate. On the morning of their road trip, their early lunch consisted of pickles, cheese, and bread. They were probably just emptying out their cabinets before their departure, but to me it seemed elegant. No fussing with bread slices, lettuce, slabs of meat; instead, delicate eating of small tasty bits. A kind of crude refinment.

As I continue to wander supermarket aisles -- making new discoveries like "hatchipurri" [Georgian bread - filled with cheese!] or mushroom pancakes, or chocolate flavored cream cheese -- I keep my American tastes in mind. While much of what I buy is just like home (Russian frozen vegetable mixes, or frozen lasagne) I try to venture out into something new, like pickled mushrooms [never again!]. Hopefully, as I learn what I like and make more use of my gym membership, my Russian diet will expand my perspective and not my waist.