Does Food Taste Better in Russia (or Ukraine)?

[Manny]

Prompted by this comment:

From likely my first visit to Russia I noticed the food tasted better. Not so much Russian cuisine as I could take or leave most of it but the taste of meat, dairy and especially fruit had the tastes that I hadn't experienced since I was a kid.

I have always thought the same, that food tasted better in the FSU. When I use to drive to Estonia quite often, I first noticed the eggs in Poland was great. And the roadside honey and vegetables I used to buy on the way home. I've always found the food in Estonia very tasty, similarly. And of course, in Russia too. Meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables seem to taste better. We buy some food from the Polish shop at home for these reasons, its all trucked in from Poland.

The only way you can get similar in the UK is to pay top dollar for expensive organic brands.

[Markje]

Except for beef in Crimea, i voted yes on taste. Much better.

[2tallbill]

Except for beef in Crimea, i voted yes on taste. Much better.

The FSU/Eastern Europe doesn't know how to grow/cook beef.

[2tallbill]

The only way you can get similar in the UK is to pay top dollar for expensive organic brands.

Sour cream/smetana certainly tastes better in Eastern Europe. I think that
the tomatoes in Italy are equal to the tomatoes in Eastern Europe. The things
that my wife grows in our back yard are superior to anything I can buy in a
store.

[Manny]

I agree steak isn't as good in my experience.

[WestCoast]

Food tastes different everywhere. If I go to LA something as common as McDonald's or BK taste different from the McDonald's or BK in Vancouver. The same type of chocolate bars and even Coke taste different in LA compared to Vancouver.

Same if I go to London. McDonald's and KFC taste different from Vancouver. Diary is very different in London from Vancouver. Paris is again different from London whether it's fast food or a meal in a good restaurant. Again Coke at McDonald's or in a can is different in London, Paris and Vancouver.

How course the difference can be explained by the fact that food is better prepared in Paris compared to London and Vancouver. 

[2tallbill]

I read the poll question wrong.

I thought that you posted another silly who is better Russia vs Ukraine thing.
So I voted they are the same. BUT, that wasn't what you are going for. I haven't
bought loads of groceries and then cooked many meals in Western Europe so
I can only compare USA Frankenfoods/processed foods et al, to that of
Eastern Europe.

The US process of converting milk into powdered milk and then turning that
powder into sour cream using fillers and chemicals is vastly inferior to what
the FSU does. Who thinks that food starch, modified whey, fish oil and tri
calcium phosphate is what brings out the tasty goodness of sour cream?

Not me

[Danchik]

Except for beef in Crimea, i voted yes on taste. Much better.

The FSU/Eastern Europe doesn't know how to grow/cook beef.

It's amazing how little you really know about Russia as Wiz has pointed out recently regarding some of your silly posts about this country.

I wrote this years ago (notice the date).

You can also see a remark I made about WC, who still talks the same lame shit even now.

I enjoyed a nice ribeye a few days ago. Cooked it myself

I also went to a new great steakhouse a few months ago that was as good as any place I have ever been.

Sorry guys, but quality steaks are easy to find in Moscow. Beef from Argentina, and Australia all day long to boot. You can even have it delivered to your door.

There are shops around Moscow that offer up anything you want, although I will admit that some of the imported specialty items are a little harder to find these days, but most of those hard to find items wren't that popular to begin with. And yes they have gluten free products. Really, where do some of you get your information from, WestCoast?

Just a little skinny on the steaks in Russia. Some of the best beef to be had nowadays in Russia is being ranched in and around Voronezh, Augus beef to be exact. I don't know exactly when, but maybe 6-7 years ago Russia started recruiting ranchers from Australia, Canada, America, and Japan to revitalize the industry, which was basically destroyed going back to Stalin's days.

http://zarechnoe.ru/en .This is the link in English for you nonbelievers. I can assure you the steaks are easily on par with anything raised in the West.

Stalin left the industry for dead and what was left to eat were mostly jersey cows. Great for dairy products, but a little tough on the teeth . If anyone wants to try some on your next trip to Moscow, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction. Just make sure you're staying for more than a couple of hours .

Here's where I get meat. Lamb, veal, pork, chicken, you name it. It's in Russian, so you'll have to do your own translations.


https://shop.miratorg.ru/shop/sezon-grilya/myaso-ptitsa/steyk/

[Steveboy]

Food tastes often as much as your willing to spend on it! That applies all over the planet..

[Markje]

Except for beef in Crimea, i voted yes on taste. Much better.

The FSU/Eastern Europe doesn't know how to grow/cook beef.

It's amazing how little you really know about Russia as Wiz has pointed out recently regarding some of your silly posts about this country.

I wrote this years ago (notice the date).

You can also see a remark I made about WC, who still talks the same lame shit even now.

I enjoyed a nice ribeye a few days ago. Cooked it myself

I also went to a new great steakhouse a few months ago that was as good as any place I have ever been.

Sorry guys, but quality steaks are easy to find in Moscow. Beef from Argentina, and Australia all day long to boot. You can even have it delivered to your door.

There are shops around Moscow that offer up anything you want, although I will admit that some of the imported specialty items are a little harder to find these days, but most of those hard to find items wren't that popular to begin with. And yes they have gluten free products. Really, where do some of you get your information from, WestCoast?

Just a little skinny on the steaks in Russia. Some of the best beef to be had nowadays in Russia is being ranched in and around Voronezh, Augus beef to be exact. I don't know exactly when, but maybe 6-7 years ago Russia started recruiting ranchers from Australia, Canada, America, and Japan to revitalize the industry, which was basically destroyed going back to Stalin's days.

http://zarechnoe.ru/en .This is the link in English for you nonbelievers. I can assure you the steaks are easily on par with anything raised in the West.

Stalin left the industry for dead and what was left to eat were mostly jersey cows. Great for dairy products, but a little tough on the teeth . If anyone wants to try some on your next trip to Moscow, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction. Just make sure you're staying for more than a couple of hours .

Here's where I get meat. Lamb, veal, pork, chicken, you name it. It's in Russian, so you'll have to do your own translations.


https://shop.miratorg.ru/shop/sezon-grilya/myaso-ptitsa/steyk/

You open a good american style steakhouse and you will be rich (if you can get it supplied) in evpatoria

[Markje]

Food tastes often as much as your willing to spend on it! That applies all over the planet..

I paid 80 euros 300g for my 'steak meatlovers' in evp. Cook was very good, but the meatquality wasnt. I was much dissapointed for that price.

[Manny]

I agree steak isn't as good in my experience.

In light of Danchik's comments, I'd like to expand on this. My experience with steak in Russia may be a little dated.

When I first went to Russia, I couldn't find a decent steak at all. The shops didn't sell them, steakhouses were few and far between and not terribly good. Even in decent hotels in Moscow, steak never tasted anything like the steak I was used to. Maybe it was veal, I dunno.

One time, back in 2010, I found a proper restaurant that did steak properly. It was still there three years later. I think that was when things began to change in the restaurant industry there. That restaurant is now sadly gone, but Togliatti in particular is now full of decent steak houses where there was just the one before (wifey has visited many while she has been visiting in recent years). If that's Togliatti, Moscow where Dan is will be far ahead by now.

[Danchik]

Part of my point Steve, is that there are many here whom still think of Russia as the USSR .

What many people in the collective West seem to conveniently forget, and they tend to forget a lot, if they ever even knew, is that Russia has only been a free market economy for just over 30 years. And the first 10 were a disaster thanks to the West's privatisation after Yeltsin open the door to those thieves.

Russia had, and has so much more room to grow. You know, emerging countries and all.

Russia has made great strides since the sanctions in 2014 really woke them up to the self-sufficiency they realised that they would need one day. Agriculture is a booming industry, whereas before Russia imported many of its food products from Europe.

Other industries will follow (some have already started) and this had been the silver lining to many of these sanctions..

You open a good american style steakhouse and you will be rich (if you can get it supplied) in evpatoria

Give it time.

As I mentioned Russia has been at this free market stuff for really only a couple of decades. Did they have great steakhouses all over the east coast of America in 1796? .

The collective West thinks that Russia should be at its level instantly after spending the previous 70 years under communism. Let's get real here for a second.

[andrewfi]

Given that Westcoast uses north American examplea of fast food outlets, I think we can safely say that he has no knowledge of restaurant food and especially outside of North America.

I am surprised that fountain Cola tastes differently in different branches of the same fast food outlets in the same country. If he has genuinely experienced that, I think it says more about relative maintenance and cleanliness practice in the branches than it does about the taste of the product.

[Steveboy]

Part of my point Steve, is that there are many here whom still think of Russia as the USSR .

What many people in the collective West seem to conveniently forget, and they tend to forget a lot, if they ever even knew, is that Russia has only been a free market economy for just over 30 years. And the first 10 were a disaster thanks to the West's privatisation after Yeltsin open the door to those thieves.

Russia had, and has so much more room to grow. You know, emerging countries and all.

Russia has made great strides since the sanctions in 2014 really woke them up to the self-sufficiency they realised that they would need one day. Agriculture is a booming industry, whereas before Russia imported many of its food products from Europe.

Other industries will follow (some have already started) and this had been the silver lining to many of these sanctions..

You open a good american style steakhouse and you will be rich (if you can get it supplied) in evpatoria

Give it time.

As I mentioned Russia has been at this free market stuff for really only a couple of decades. Did they have great steakhouses all over the east coast of America in 1796? .

The collective West thinks that Russia should be at its level instantly after spending the previous 70 years under communism. Let's get real here for a second.

Part of my point Steve, is that there are many here whom still think of Russia as the USSR Most retards seem to still think this..

[Faux Pas]

Prompted by this comment:

From likely my first visit to Russia I noticed the food tasted better. Not so much Russian cuisine as I could take or leave most of it but the taste of meat, dairy and especially fruit had the tastes that I hadn't experienced since I was a kid.

I have always thought the same, that food tasted better in the FSU. When I use to drive to Estonia quite often, I first noticed the eggs in Poland was great. And the roadside honey and vegetables I used to buy on the way home. I've always found the food in Estonia very tasty, similarly. And of course, in Russia too. Meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables seem to taste better. We buy some food from the Polish shop at home for these reasons, its all trucked in from Poland.

The only way you can get similar in the UK is to pay top dollar for expensive organic brands.

There's an ancient idea that the closer the food source is to your table, the better it tastes and the better it is for us. I believe that and attribute that being the differences in taste of food in Russia in general. Food does taste better there to me as opposed to the US. It reminds me more of how it tasted when I was younger and we raised our meat and grew big gardens. It is very difficult to find that in the US unless you are doing it yourself and even then it's questionable if it is the same of my childhood. Modifieds, GMOs, chemicals and fertilizers are even different.

The FSU/Eastern Europe doesn't know how to grow/cook beef.

I've had some exceptional steaks in Russia but I've tried to eat some pretty crappy ones too as well as all across Europe. Waygu or Kobe isn't something you'll run into with any regularity in the East but it's still good meat. Beef there is raised different but it's not necessarily bad, it's just different. Often it's cut different and preparation is half of it

[AvHdB]

I've had some exceptional steaks in Russia but I've tried to eat some pretty crappy ones too as well as all across Europe. Waygu or Kobe isn't something you'll run into with any regularity in the East but it's still good meat. Beef there is raised different but it's not necessarily bad, it's just different. Often it's cut different and preparation is half of it

This is the truth I have had succulent beef and delicious lamb in Ukraine. Much depends on the butcher and how the meat is ‘aged’.

[Markje]

I've had some exceptional steaks in Russia but I've tried to eat some pretty crappy ones too as well as all across Europe. Waygu or Kobe isn't something you'll run into with any regularity in the East but it's still good meat. Beef there is raised different but it's not necessarily bad, it's just different. Often it's cut different and preparation is half of it

This is the truth I have had succulent beef and delicious lamb in Ukraine. Much depends on the butcher and how the meat is ‘aged’.

When Crimea still had a mcdonalds, it served its burgers from porkmeat. The horror

[Danchik]

When they revitalised the meat industry here, they started importing Angus cows (instead of just the finished product) as well as learning how to raise the animals by ranchers from all over the world. You know, as I noted.

If anyone took the time to open the link you would have noticed Black Angus on many of the selections. Something rarely seen in Russia even 5 years ago unless it was imported from another country.

It all starts with the quality of the cow. Everything else comes afterwards.

As far as how to butcher an animal, I like these guys whom I found a year or 2 ago. I've picked up some good cooking tips from them and they have changed not only what I look for when I currently buy a cut of meat, but how to prepare it start to finish.

[Steveboy]

Just outside St Petersburg they have Scottish cows (Not sure if they speak Russian) lots of them for producing Scottish milk and good quality Brie cheese 

My mate is married to the daughter of the guy who owns a huge farm business all over Russia, so he does the sales and marketing side of stuff for them..

[Bodine]

I've had some exceptional steaks in Russia but I've tried to eat some pretty crappy ones too as well as all across Europe. Waygu or Kobe isn't something you'll run into with any regularity in the East but it's still good meat. Beef there is raised different but it's not necessarily bad, it's just different. Often it's cut different and preparation is half of it

They're overrated, especially Wagyu. Last we were at Istanbul, we dined at Nusr-ET (nuzret) and was excited to find out one opened in L.A. fairly recently with much fanfare. Over-priced and overrated.

'Preparation' is 'all of it'. It's too bad most think of 'grilling' when comparing preparation of meat/steak. Any bone-in rib roast will satisfy the harshest critic if given an opportunity to feast upon a bone-in rib roast, brined for 2 days and cooked via *method 'x'*. I guarantee it. You haven't tasted the perfect steak until you've sat down and feasted upon one of these.

[2tallbill]

It's amazing how little you really know about Russia as Wiz has pointed out recently regarding some of your silly posts about this country.

I enjoyed a nice ribeye a few days ago. Cooked it myself

I also went to a new great steakhouse a few months ago that was as good as any place I have ever been.

I never said that you can't find an excellent steak in Moscow.

You can't find one in Dnepropetrovsk or Balti or Novosibirsk. Nor can you find a
girl in those cities who wouldn't ruin it if she were allowed to cook it.

It's just like the American cheese argument. The USA doesn't have all the excellent
varieties of cheese that you can find in Europe. If you go to Safeway, Albertsons the
cheese offered for sale will be crap compared to what you can find all over Europe.

Obviously, you can get anything in the USA. Obviously you can get anything in Moscow.

In general I am right, and you know it. They might be getting slightly better, but they
have a million miles to go. I can go to Corncob Nebraska and get a better tasting steak
that is better than anywhere in the FSU except for a few elite steak houses in major cities.