facebook
twitter
pinterest
expert@trans-siberian.co.uk UK: +44 (0)345 521 2910 USA: 1 8665 224308
  • Journeys
    • Trans-Siberian Classic
      • Journey Planning Guide
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing St. Petersburg
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Moscow
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Beijing
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Vladivostok
    • Trans-Siberian Rail Cruises
    • Luxury Trans-Siberian Rail Cruises
    • China Trips
  • Destinations
    • Russia
      • Ekaterinburg
      • Irkutsk & Lake Baikal
      • Moscow
      • Novosibirsk
      • Perm
      • St Petersburg
      • Ulan-Uday & Buryatia
      • Vladivostok
    • Mongolia
      • Bayan-Gobi
      • Elstei
      • Erlian
      • Huhehot
      • Naadam Festival
      • Terelj National Park
    • China
      • Beijing
      • Guangzhou
      • Guilin
      • Harbin
      • Hong Kong
    • Interactive Map
  • Expert Help
    • About
      • No Ordinary Travel Company
      • Our People
      • Our Small Print
    • Responsible Travel
    • Flights
    • Visa Info
    • Trains to Russia
    • Life on board Classic Trans-Siberian
    • Traveller’s Checklist
    • Booking
    • FAQ
    • Hints & Tips
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog Post

Cheaper – Better – Easier #3: Nourishment

26 Oct 2018
Comment are off
Bernard H. Wood
drink, Food

It’s time to round off this three-part series with a sample of the food and drink that is readily available in Russia, and that also combines quality with value. It’s easy to pay over the odds anywhere if you are determined to do so, but also surprisingly easy not to.

Culinary myths, incidentally

Some of our inherited stereotypes about Russian cuisine still appear to be rooted in Soviet times, or even earlier. Are you expecting tables laden with bread, boiled meat, and vegetables? Some forest edibles (mushrooms/berries) and a mug of Kvass on the side? If so, you could be even further out of date; by a century or more. Those are the contents of a Russian peasant’s table; those in such hard times managed as best they could.

A selective written history has limited our knowledge of such things unfortunately. The authors of the time were, of course, not peasants themselves. By definition: educated, monied, and moving in “higher” social circles. As a result, the lives and interests of the lower social order were usually considered mundane, uninteresting and not worth committing to paper – including their recipes.

However, some still survive – along with meals passed down through family tradition: borscht, the aforementioned Kvass and more. They are all readily available and worth trying.

In a word: Stolovaya

It’s tempting to say that this is all you need to know, if you want to eat well but cheaply whilst in tourist-friendly Russia, but that would do a disservice to other treats, still to be discussed. Stolovaya is Russian for “canteen”, which may not sound too appealing as a place to dine out, but it’s a wholly positive leftover from Soviet Russia that’s particularly worth visiting if you are on a budget.

In a bid to provide enough for all members of society (“enough” is point of contention, but that’s another tale) the State provided good, economical Russian food for the proletariat in a functional, workmanlike manner. Food halls where trays were pushed around on rails and loaded-up, school-dinner style were common across Russia and today their polished legacy lives on.

They’ve come a long way in the last 20 years as John O’Mahony’s superb article on ITMO News attests. Here is a glimpse into “then”:-

“My first impression was that I had been transported back in time to a school canteen in the 1950s. Behind the scruffy metal cabinets was a large, intimidating throng of dour female servers — recalling dinner ladies — all glowering barbarously at the row of queuing customers/victims.” “Now”, by contrast is definitely worth a visit, however.

Far from being a greasy workman’s cafe or a school-dinners nightmare, the modern stolovaya is often part of a successful chain providing a clean, efficient and economical service. However, take care because anyone can open a “canteen”, and “Stolovaya” itself is not a brand name. “Stolovaya No1”, however is, and their resplendent red and yellow livery is never far away when strolling around central St. Petersburg and beyond.

Count your Rubles

The food is varied and delicious, the prices by our standards are ridiculously cheap and they are usually open 24 hours. Cheap, in my experience was: one main plate with 2 generous servings, a side plate, a bowl of soup (or another side), coffee, and fruit juice for just over 3GBP inclusive (5 USD). I have fond memories of late night mushroom & veg soup and flavoursome black coffee on the way back to my flat after an evening’s prowl around Nevsky Prospekt. I even miss the place, still, on drab nights back home. I arrived in Russia expecting to shop and cook for myself but frankly with those prices – why bother?

I read good things about the Mu-Mu chain in Moscow incidentally, catering (literally) for a similar market, and I’m look forward to trying them out in turn.

Producti

The other 24 hour gems are the ubiquitous “Produkti” stores. These are not necessarily chained but their umbrella title translates to simply: “groceries”. Equivalent to our general food stores: 7 – 11’s, corner shops and the like. Sometimes “groceries” are all that you need of course, if you drink the industrial quantities of Kvass that I enjoy or fancy some sweet poppy-seed bread or crab flavoured crisps. Sensible and obscure things in cans and jars are always available too of course.

Expect the same but different when visiting a Produkti – sometimes broad and long, sometimes tiny, sometimes a warren-like maze; they all feature a similar range of stock, tilted towards food products and household supplies at sensible prices.

And for dessert

Finally, the other budget option requires a little insider knowledge. Perhaps your hotel receptionist or guide can help or perhaps you’ll find it mentioned on Trip Advisor and the like. It’s that little “good” cafe just around the corner that the locals know, but you don’t. Maybe you’ll stumble across it by accident, maybe someone of relatively good standing will clue you in. You won’t of course be following dodgy strangers down dingy side streets regardless though, right?

My tour guide took me for a break in her favourite drop-in: a small, cellar cafe on Nevsky Prospect, just down from Kazan Cathedral. It’s odd to wander into a bargain basement (literally) right in the heart of tourist-central St.Petersburg, but there we were. A simple but effective establishment where I drank my first bottle of Kvass (and started a lifelong addiction).

Previous post

Social Share

  • google-share
Ready to Book? Speak to an Expert
Feefo logo

Travellers Checklist

Visa Info » Flights » Trains to Russia » The Checklist »

Hints, Tips & Fun Facts...

Don’t take a suitcase. Take a soft bag with wheels and a pulling handle.
2018 certificate of excellence tripadvisor

Your payment is protected: everything is held in a trust account until you've completed your trip.

Explore the blog

  • Celebrations and Events
  • ►Destinations
    • China
    • Hong Kong
    • Mongolia
    • Moscow
    • Russia
    • St Petersburg
  • ▼Life
    • ▼Arts & Culture
      • Food and Drink
      • Stories – Folklore -Superstition
    • History
    • Life in Russia
  • News
  • Russian Language
  • ▼Series
    • (Moderately) Superstitious
    • A and L in Irkutsk
    • A Few Choice Words
    • Alien Visitors
    • All About The Bottom Line
    • All In The Game
    • All In The Preparation
    • All Quiet on the Eastern Front
    • Almost Medieval
    • Ancient Traces Revisited
    • Animated Russia
    • Anomalous Zones
    • Arrival: Beijing
    • Baba Yaga Revisited
    • Backwards and Forwards
    • Baikal at Last!
    • Business in the City of Extremes
    • By the time you read this
    • Captured Fragments
    • Chasing the spirit
    • Cheaper – Better – Easier
    • Christmas Leftovers
    • Doomed Utopias
    • Dreams Made Concrete
    • Easter Variations
    • Eastwards To Novosibirsk
    • Feline Exhibits
    • Fragmentary Views
    • Free Knowledge for the Proletariat
    • Free Russian Cinema
    • Gobi and Steppe Wanderings
    • Good Advices
    • Good Traditions
    • Grandfather Frost
    • Here Seeking Knowledge
    • Hiking – Cooking – Tick Picking
    • How Cold?
    • How Hot?
    • Igor the Shaman
    • In and Out of Ulaanbaatar
    • In and Out of Ulan Uday
    • International Womens Day in Russia
    • Irkutsk Now
    • Is It Safe?
    • Joanna Lumley’s Trans-Siberian Adventure
    • Kizhi: Scattered Memories
    • Kvas – The Good Stuff
    • Language and literature 2016
    • Last stop: Vladivostok
    • Life On Rails
    • Loveless
    • Low Season Traveler
    • March Of The Immortals
    • Maslenitsa
    • Matilda: A Russian Scandal
    • Minefields of the soul #1
    • Mongolia By Proxy
    • More on Krasnoyarsk
    • Mythological?
    • Nightmare Fuel
    • Non-Verbal Confusion
    • Opposing Worlds
    • Over The Border
    • Pagans On Ice
    • Pronunciations and Tribulations
    • Random Freezings
    • Remembrance Day
    • Russia Sells Alaska
    • Russian Language: Ways and Means
    • Russian things to see and do
    • Scam-Tastic
    • Scrapbooks and Backpacks
    • Sculpting the National Character
    • See You In The Bunker
    • Shadow Man in Circumspect
    • Shot By Both Sides
    • Siege Fatigue
    • Something about Cossacks
    • Sort Your Life Out
    • Stretching the Ruble
    • Survivalist
    • Sweeping generalisations
    • Systems of Control
    • Taking Care
    • The Bear Thing -and Other Interlopers
    • The Ghost at Your Shoulder
    • The Other 10%
    • The roll of the egg
    • The Silent Anniversary
    • The Snow Maiden
    • The Spirits of Winter
    • The Temple at the Border
    • There’s a Russian in my House
    • These Four Walls
    • Thespian Pursuits
    • This Word “Defective”
    • Trans-Siberian Offshoots
    • Trips and Tales
    • Unknown Territories
    • Unseen Unheard
    • Visitations
    • Vodka
    • Voices of Experience
    • Welcome to Magnitogorsk
    • When a lobster whistles on top of a mountain
    • Words are Hard
    • X-rays and space ships
    • Yes They Mean Us
    • Your Cash In St.Petersburg Now!
    • Zaryadye Park
  • Tourist Tips
  • Uncategorized

Quick Links

Ready to Book
Speak to an Expert
FAQs

Destinations

Russia
Mongolia
China
Interactive Map

Journeys

Trans-Siberian Classic
Trans-Siberian Rail Cruise
Luxury Trans-Siberian Rail Cruise
China Trips

Contact Us

E: expert@trans-siberian.co.uk
T: +44 (0)345 521 2910

facebook twitter
© 2018 Russia Experience - All rights reserved