Food sanctions

A recent episode of The Keiser Report described a new trend for locavore cuisine in Moscow and presented this interest in locally-sourced ingredients as an unintended positive from Russian sanctions on some western nations' food (the Russian response to western-imposed sanctions).

Lavka Lavka restaurant. Image

Thinking back to our recent trip, were the sanctions clearly evident? .....

A spoonful of sugar...

New Year was spent visiting relatives in Russia. Lily's parents are likely to move from her hometown this coming year and, with it being a few years since we were last there for the biggest celebration of the year, a trip for family, festivities and nostalgia seemed too good to miss.

As you expect at that time of year, food and drink were in abundance.

New Year Meal

Far removed from my usual diet (low fat, low sugar, low meat); if it was in front of me, I consumed it with great pleasure... Russian sausage, pelmeniy, cheese, salads swimming in soured cream, khachapuri [see below], pizzas, sweets (and one or two drinks).

Khachapuri...

The result was dramatic...

Thinking of emigrating?

Russia Today summarises findings of a survey by the Levada Centre which says that the percentage of Russians wanting to emigrate is at a historic low.

The poll says that a surprisingly low 9% of Russians "are having thoughts of emigrating" while 81% "have never thought of uprooting to another country".

However, a survey from the same pollsters two years ago

Crisis? What Crisis? (part 2)

I wrote about some Russians' reactions to the Rouble's fall a few weeks back.

Had some more feedback...

Crisis? What Crisis?

President Putin's major end of year press conference glossed over the current situation in Russia, almost echoing Jim Сallaghan's dismissiveness, paraphrased and immortalised in the Sun headline, "Crisis? What Crisis?"

source

So, what's the feeling among 'ordinary Russians'?

Disability in Russia

Nowhere's perfect, but the UK has come a long way in terms of increasing access for disabled people, with facilities to work around impairments and the legal right to equality. There's still some way to go here but it's also indicative of the improvements that you don't think twice about ramps in or leading to buildings, notices for subtitles or audio-described films at the cinema, mini, braille signs, wheelchair-sized elevators next to steps in buildings, signs for hearing loops or those knobbly slopes next to crossings and so on.

The differences are highlighted if you go to Russia, where there are far fewer (useful) adaptations...

Kazan: Source

Indestructible?

Adler, Russia, 2011

Indestructible?

I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, an autobiographical account of him growing up in the US in the 1950s. It's an enjoyable read and humorous in a gentle, self-effacing way that seems in keeping with such an anglophile. Anyway, enough of that tangent... so, I'm sure you're wondering why someone writing about Russia would mention 50s America. This short extract made me think of two periods of my life:

Happily, we were indestructible. We didn't need seat belts, airbags, smoke detectors, bottled water or the Heimlich manoeuvre. We didn't require child safety caps on our medicines. We didn't need helmets when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees and elbows when we went skating. We knew without written reminding that bleach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed to a match had a tendency to combust. We didn't have to worry about what we ate because nearly all foods were good for us: sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, coffee kept us alert and purring productively. (pp105-106)

 

It transported me back to two times in my life... the first period was when my face was as bald as my forehead is now, in the UK twenty-odd years ago... days when I used to play outside, jump off walls without thinking about how my knees would cope with the impact, whizz down the road on my scooter and climb trees blissfully unaware of the possibility of falling.

The other time was...

Racism in Russia

Football-related incidents bring issues of racism in Russia to the attention of more people. But that sadly is not the limit of the problem's scope: according to the Levada Center, 28% of Russians feel hostility towards other ethnicities, 34% think that non-Russians hold varying degrees of responsible for Russia's problems, 45% have negative feelings towards people from 'southern republics' and 56% agree with fully or partially implementing policies of 'Russia for Russians'.

Squirrels, metaphorically speaking

Lily and I are trying to declutter. We'd been acquiring stuff in the way typical of many new-weds, for whom money isn't free-flowing and life plans change with the seasons. 'We'll take it' and 'we'll keep it, just in case' saw us become overwhelmed by possessions... two washing machines, three Christmas trees (yes, seriously), a printer for which we have no cables or adapter. Insane! Now... ebay if it's worth something, recycling if it's beyond repair in the damp cellar and charity for things that we can't be arsed to deal with any other way. All this got me thinking about stuff and the British and Russian attitudes.

A Siberian squirrel.

Alcohol

Ask most people to name things associated with Russia then vodka and/ or alcohol are going to be high up on that list. This isn’t helped by those who remember Boris Yeltsin ‘leading by example’ as president, which included him standing outside the White House in his underwear trying to hail a cab to go for a pizza! So, I thought I’d take a look at whether this stereotype was fair or not.

refreshing...