One curious Moscow guy initiated a survey on foreigners’ nostalgia for food. Let’s have a look at the results. First come the Englishmen.
Ivor Benett, reporter
English breakfast
Fried eggs, real bacon, toasts, tomatoes, baked beans and the main thing – pure English sausages. All sausages here are huge and of some strange taste – nothing to compare with pork sausages with herbs served anywhere in England.
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Martin Andrews, TV presenter
Monster Munch chips
I adore them since I was a child. A sandwich, an apple and a pack of chips were a regular school lunch. My favorite ones were with marinated onion. The other special thing is their shape – like a monster’s paw with a whole in the middle. But maybe that’s for the better that there’s no these chips here because they are really unhealthy.
Pierce Gladstone, writer
Japanese soba noodles
In London one can visit a three-table-restaurant and make oneself stuffed with the excellent noodles. In Moscow it costs twice more and is served only in prestigious restaurants. But even there you won’t find good noodles. For some strange reason the main Japanese dish here is sushi and I never liked it much – it’s small and cold.
Bill Dod, TV presenter
Brunch
Sunday brunch is a very nice English tradition. It usually consists of smoked salmon, muffins, sausages, sometimes spinach, eggs Benedict and champagne. You think it’s easy to find eggs Benedict in Moscow? No way. I tried them in “Luch” but they are tiny there and cost too much. Only several hotels and restaurants organize brunches but they cost four times more than in England.
Jacob Grivs, journalist
Chicken curry
Going out and having a big plate of chicken curry for four pounds – that’s what I miss here. In London it’s always easy to find a place nearby where it’s cooked. In Moscow they serve it only in some Indian restaurants but it automatically turns into a big dinner. Not as simple as in England.
Paul Greenan, English teacher
Yorkshire tea
A cup of British tea and a chocolate biscuit – I love this much. My favorite tea is Yorkshire one, it’s pretty strong. English tea here is rather expensive but still not the same. I don’t like the way Russians drink tea – with lemon, I like with milk. But even milk here differs. It’s not so fresh and as a result tea tastes in a very different way.
Phillip Savill, art-director
Colmans English Mustard
It’s such a trifle but I always lack for it. It’s not a problem to find good English food here but meat or sausages need proper hot mustard but it’s a rare thing.
Andrew Hehir, lawyer
Cadbury chocolates
They have here Twix or Mars but that’s American chocs and no any British ones. I like Cadbury very much. My favorites are with caramel. Generally, there’s a very poor choice of chocolate in Moscow. I’ve got bored rather quickly of eating the same all the time.
Attish Patel, journalist
Coca-Cola Diet
Cola being sold here in Moscow has quite different taste comparing to English one. I can feel too much sugar in Russian cola. The other thing is there are a few vegetarian dishes in fast food cafes. I don’t eat meat but like fast food. It’s a problem for me here.
Alexander Matthews, artist
Meat pie with kidneys
It’s a really big pie for several persons. It’s cooked from meat, carrots and onion with spice inside and with potatoes and cheese on the top. Not the healthiest food but very typical for England. It’s especially good with bitter beer.
And here come the Americans
Irakli Iosebashvili, financial journalist
I’ve spent 25 years in New York and have never tasted such pizza like there. Here one need to go to a restaurant to taste good pizza, in New York you can get it on your way. But the main thing I miss is Lucky Charms flakes.
Eric Leroy, English teacher
Popcorn – sweet, salty, spice, of various kinds and flavors, I get used to buy it ready-to-use. I’ve found it here only in cinema. The other thing I lack for are American pancakes usually served for breakfast with butter and maple syrup.
C.J. Lovell jr., English teacher
I was born in Texas and the things I miss here are stakes and burgers. They have them here in several places but they are worse. And I also lack for Chinese food which is available anywhere in USA ad is very delicious because it’s cooked by the Chinese.
Andrew Mendelssohn, lawyer
There’s no really good bourbon here. I prefer Jefferson’s Reserve and Pappy van Winkle Family Reserve (15-, 20- and 23-year old). I haven’t 23-year old one in Moscow at all.
Marco North, creative director at Bittersweet Moscow
I miss chipotle – smoked jalapeno pepper. It’s a Mexican product used for cooking lots of national dishes. I also like Pastrami – a sandwich with meat – typical fast food in New York and it’s not cooked in Moscow.
Dmitriy Zdorov, owner of a software developing company
They don’t sell my favorite thin capellini macaroni in Moscow. These are known as Angel Hairs is the USA. But still the main problem for me here is the lack of natural organic products – eggs, milk and meat.
Laird Senotto, CEO of Baker and McKenzie in СIS
I live in Moscow for about 20 years. Earlier may products were hard to get but now it’s the matter of price. Now it’s hard to find a turkey but a product which hasn’t still appeared here is a traditional American Campbell`s soup .
the fact that a lot of these english speakers go for snack food shows the low brow culture of the english speaking world. If you had asked a Spanish man, French or German or Italian they would have named a real national dish. I think that these people don’t quite get the question. Bourbon and Chinese noodles? Need I say more…
Dont Spanish people still bath in Ditches?
no, we just teach your mom to swim dude
OMG Russians are so poor they cannot even afford a decent hot meal and delicious hot chocolate
Wow, leave it to some people to see politics in everything. All people have their foods of choice. Your opinion is not objectively the right one. But, I guess racism crops up anywhere.
I couldn’t believe the Campbell’s soup, ’cause it’s way too salty for me, for example, but there’s this old phrase “to each his own.” I never had borcht and I don’t pine for vodka, but I’d never come to a site and smear Russians for their tastes. Likewise the Brits and their everything fried.
Great pictures, though. Really a funny concept.
Lack of organic products? It’s what my Russian girlfriend misses living in the US . . .
Indeed, in the city you will not find organic food in Russia, outside there is plenty. In USA it’s almost a culture.
If you mean paying out the a** for organic food, yes it’s a mass cult following in USA. However, the majority of Russia, Ukraine, and generally all ‘easter bloc’ countries focus on organic food. That’s why the fruit there is seasonal, it’s grown naturally, although sometimes with pesticides, usually not with genetic engineering. I can’t speak for Moscow, because it’s heavily industrialized, and therefore has too much dependence on supermarkets. However, most cities in those countries still depend on regular/natural farming. Most cities in US have supermarkets as their main source of food, and most supermarkets carry a majority of cheap genetically engineered food.
Couscous, paella, cassoulet, boeuf bourguignon, choucroute : so many dishes it is hard to find in Moscow, let alone at reasonable prices. Anyway, what can be found at reasonable prices in this city : Russian people really do have a serious problem at prompting a correct price for anything…
Hopefully, there is still Russian food which is correct if not very diversified. And Western Europe is just 2-3 hours flight, to find at least all these dishes.
Wherever you’re at, it’s never the same as home.
I call BS on jb. I live in a tiny town in Texas and have access to all sorts of organic food. It costs more, but one CAN buy it. All those people, both Brits and Americans, are nothing but whiners.
Problem with that is, food is SUPPOSED to be ‘organic.’ But unfortunately, it’s expensive because the population has outgrown the output natural farming can produce, it’s also inconsistent.
It’s a shame we have to pay a premium for normal food.
Baked Peas????
baked beans it should be
Ooooh…. Useless article…
9th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What no fried chicken and mash potatoes and gravy with cheese and mac .
You can buy proper British sausages and bacon in Moscow – try http://www.sausages.ru!
What I would like would be Hoi Sin sauce, and Tsing Tao beer – the former, if available, is expensive, and I’ve never seen the latter outside a restaurant.
Ere hold on me old china,
feckin english food is the dogs nob, not like russian tat which involves eating dogs nobs. Facking English nosh in some of the most respected in the world. What did the russians ever do for the culinary experiance? Beaver and raw deer all washed down with 100% alcohol..mmmmm waiter two for lunch me old cocker!
I say old chap, what the devil is wrong with you? English food the worst on Earth? How dare you??!! I’ll have you know English fish and chips is envied the world over!! It’s no surprise that our fellow Chinamen are positioning their entire economic development for the next thirty years around fish and chips!! I don’t see them doing the same with your commie dogs testicles, yah?
I never understood how Russians can live on Pickles and Vodka?
We don’t drink vodka as much as you think.
What did you expect, ’tis the most expensive city on the planet!
Try some caviar and smoked salmon. I travel and miss Canadian bacon, poutine, beer. But even in poor countries like Cuba you can get by. Mexico has awsome baseball steaks and conch. English fish&chips is good too, but with Heinz ketchup on the side. Is English teacher a good job in Russia? I guess you have to be bilingual Russian though? Next winter I am spending in the Florida Keys so no Russian teaching jobs in my future I guess…
In our part of the USA you can get ANY type of food you could imagine. I’ve been to nice restaurants all over Europe, Canada and the Carribean and I must say, I haven’t run across anything you can’t find here. Quality-wise or selection-wise.
Execpt for POUTINE!!!!! Every time I go to Canada I make sure I have POUTINE. It will give you high blood pressure, clog your arteries and stop your heart all at once, but man oh man is it good!
Yes, poutine is a regional favourite, Quebec’s contribution to fast food. For those who never tried it, it consists of French Fries (crisp) layered with white cheese curds and topped with hot gravy so that the curds melt and mix in. It is rich and heart-stopping, but damn good with a beer and a toke.
wtf no heinz baked beans ? hahahah great post !
Colmans English Mustard is gold!
LOL You Onery Little Finnish Sh1t! That’s Cheating!
I’ll haaave the number 11 at Mcdonalds please… yummy…
No good bourbon? Can’t say I agree with that. It’s available but extremely expensive.
Now the total unavailability of Crown Royal… that was always a mystery to me. Except for the duty-free shops at the airports it was not to be had in any store at any price. Other Canadian products were readily on sale, but no Crown. Why?
Other things I always found odd… Hot dogs can be found in almost any store that sells food, yet hot dog rolls were nearly impossible to find.
A decent steak? Maybe in a high-end restaurant but not in any grocery story or market. Oh there was beef, of course but no cut of beef that I could recognize. I always found this curious as Russians had no problem properly processing a chicken or a pig, but could not do the same for a cow.
Cabbage? Everywhere of course. Sauerkraut? Nope.
Plenty of apples, but no applesauce.
Pickles, yes. Pickle relish… no.
A previous poster mentioned the lack of maple syrup. Given how many maple trees are in Russia I didn’t expect this to be a problem, but it was. Birch syrup? Not even close.
WTF there is NO Crown Royal? Is there NO Crown Royal Reserve either? What kind of craziness is that?
Russia is surreel country. Bottle of simple red wine I saw in berlin for 4 euro was 25 euro’s in Astrakhan. Imagine the price of decent bourbon. Expensive because of tax-bribes involved.
Plenty of hot mustard in Russia. Also good food, but greasy and little diversity. Easy to go fat here.
Maybe someday Russia will have salad dressing like Ranch or Thousand Island and mayonase will no longer be the only dressing.For the people here who has never been to Russia,the beautiful Ruska I lived with for 2 weeks fed me some very good food.It was half western and half Russian.And Russian’s don’t drink vodka everytime they eat!I miss Russian hospitality.If you are a guest in their home they will place before you many different foods to eat anytime during the day.
I like your honesty SSSR, you are a great man.
Well, they whined about almost all disgusting parodies of real food, but they forgot to mention “John Smith´s”, possibly the worst parody of beer I ever tasted.
“stakes and burgers”? Would that be wood or metal stakes?
“They have them in several places but they are worse”? Worse than what?
Chinese food is very delicious because it’s cooked by the Chinese? What? Only Chinese people are capable of cooking delicious Chinese food?
And you TEACH English? God help your students….
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“C.J. Lovell jr., English teacher
I was born in Texas and the things I miss here are stakes and burgers. They have them here in several places but they are worse. And I also lack for Chinese food which is available anywhere in USA ad is very delicious because it’s cooked by the Chinese.”
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IMPEACH BLOBAMA AND JAIL HIS LACKEY CRIMINALS!
OMG ich hab gestern einem Hund einen geblasen und ein ami hat mir dabei die eier geleckt das war aufregend
“…nothing to compare with pork sausages with herbs served anywhere in England”
I would be very grateful if Mr Benett could share with us an invaluable information concerning the name of hallucinogen he apparently was under influence of whilst trying to convince us that this sorry imitation of sausage, made of paper and chavs somewhere in Brownutopia is actually anything you could recommend to anybody but your worst enemy.
WORD!
awesome dude!))
when in a new country, try what they eat,,,,,,,,
Dunno about the bloody english, I’m welsh and I miss curry half and half. aswell as glamorgan sausages caerphilly caws (cheese).
Hello may I use some of the insight here in this blog if I reference you with a link back to your site?
“I never understood how Russians can live on Pickles and Vodka?”
I never understood why some people think that Russians live on Pickles and Vodka.
We got it England is great, but lets see you find any Russian foods that are good and cheap in London.
thirty years ago, yes. but the UK has some of the best places to eat in the world nowadays.
Howdy could I use some of the perception located on this blog if I produce a website link again to your website?