What you won’t find in Russia’s supermarkets can tell you a lot

Where am I?

I believe you could wake up in a grocery, and without seeing the languages, figure out the country you were in, perhaps even which province.  We are not so homogenized after all. 

One way to identify the country is to take note of what is missing compared to other places.  Another way is to see what is included. 

Good American food...When I visited my mom in New Jersey, she would make me a tuna sandwich with lettuce on toasted bread, served with a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup.  People in Russia don’t eat that way. 

Even after the rapid commercialization of the food industry since 1991, ready-made processed foods are not as popular as in the US.  Concerns about shippable fruits and vegetables are starting to override taste.  Still Russian food seems better than the sometimes cardboard products of the USA produce aisle.

Tuna and tomato soup missing in Russia...

Sometimes I find canned tuna, but rarely the albacore white tuna ideal for sandwiches or salads.  Toasters are on sale at large stores in Peter but I don’t know anybody that has one.  Most people have little appreciation of the joys of toast at breakfast. 

Russians frequently make soup, usually with several ingredients, even in the hot  months of summer!  American soup companies mostly offer cans of one type of soup... tomato, potato, onion, chicken, and mushroom.   Campbell’s Soup set up an outpost in Moscow a few years back to win over Russians to  condensed soup.  But Russians feel time in the kitchen is well spent.  The Americans weren’t sufficiently successful, folded their tents, and left town.   

The last few years I’ve hungered for just such a condensed tomato soup.  As I get older and further away from life in the USA, for me a one ingredient soup beats complex heavy ones with parsley, dill, pieces of meat and pepper balls. I’ve made my own soup from tomato juice or left over spaghetti sauce, and enjoyed it on the sly when no one’s home to wonder.

Often American Internet recipes specify canned soup for flavoring.  I add the main components of the missing canned soup or just skip that part of the instructions.

Attitudes, tradition, and habit... 

Russians do not eat sandwiches with two pieces of bread.  They are mystified by my pleasure in putting together a midnight sandwich, a Dagwood special!

German brands of peanut butter and marmalade are available, but neither are part of daily Russian food.  With no sandwiches and no toast, where would you put them?

In New Jersey supermarkets there are long aisles for bottled spaghetti sauce.  Here I feel lucky to find a few varieties of tomato paste.  You won’t find any significant shelf space for bottled salad dressings, either.  Most Russians are not in the habit of eating green salads, so why would they need a prepared salad dressing?

Cold cereals unpopular...

There may be a few dry cereals near the Finn Crisp but there is nothing like the shelf space for such cereals as in the States.  Russians prefer hot cereal with butter but don’t slosh milk on top... or just eat buterbrod...  buttered bread with a cold slice of ham or kolbaca on top.

Vegetables...

Russian often fry vegetables. Frozen veggies are sold in open freezer bins with a scoop to fill a plastic bag, or you may buy from a small selection of packaged frozen vegetables.  Fresh or frozen, asparagus, spinach, and Lima beans are hard to find.

The meat aisle...

Americans and Russians both favor beef, chicken, and pork, but the USA also eats a lot of turkey and lamb.  I wish lamb chops (and mutton) were more available in St Petersburg. 

Most Russians know very little about turkey.  On some Thanksgivings we have eaten a frozen slab of tasteless turkey, but now we just eat chicken, and call it turkey.  Broiler chickens and turkeys are not popular. With Russia’s huge agricultural acreage, turkey could become a big consumer item.

The taste test says... Russia!

Of course, there are foods a Russian would tell you are missing in the typical American supermarket.  Most of the items I’ve mentioned here are not essentials, just preferences.  Overall, living in Russia these past thirteen years I feel that I have gained when it comes to the availability of tasty and healthy food.

What do you think?  Just click comments or send an email to us by clicking the Write Us tab on the right margin.

 

Technorati Tags: Tuna sandwich,toasted bread,albacore white tuna,peanut butter,marmalade,bottled spaghetti sauce,bottled salad dressing,buterbrod,kolbaca,frozen vegetables,lamb chops,mutton.

Fitting Russian Ingredients to an American Favorite

 

Scrumptious!

I wish we could’ve brought more of these babies home!  This post goes a long way in explaining my weakness for all things tomato! 

We kids were ecstatic when we saw tomatoey Carrigan Hamburgers cooking for supper.  Mom got the recipe from our next door Maplewood neighbor, Peggy Carrigan.

Dickie Lynde, a childhood friend from across the way, using Facebook, sent this recipe which he had spotted in a 1960s recipe book of the Prospect Presbyterian Church.

On reading his message, I wondered if I could replicate our 1950s family favorite.  I was surprised to find a faded card in Mom’s recipe box for that same tasty supper of 60 years ago. Why not add it to my small repertoire of kitchen magic?

 

A Condensed Soup Substitution...

The recipe stipulates an undiluted can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup.  I knew no such critter is available, thanks to [hotlink] the Mendeleyev Journal’s great coverage of what’s happening in Russia.

This June, Campbell’s abandoned its marketing here, focusing more on China. Russians do not have the same expedient attitude about soup that Americans do.  Here soup is made from scratch, and no amount of savvy advertising was able to persuade many to skip cooking steps.

In 2005, two years before marketing started in Russia, Campbell’s hired cultural anthropologists to watch soup preparation in Moscow apartments,  and ask questions.  They hoped they could manipulate the Russian consumer, but they failed.

American fickleness...

They were slowly winning some market share, but not fast enough to suit American impatience and short term accounting.  I’m happy they weren’t able to subvert Russian soup culture.

Poetic and woolly...

Campbell’s CEO Douglas Conant was woolly  about Campbell’s new Russian adventure... but his facts were off, claiming soup  was the earliest cooked food, even before bread!  He told Kai Ryssdal of NPR Marketplace...  

 "...[I]t's such a core behavior. Not just in the United States, but really globally.  It is in every culture. Soup is one of the oldest foods they have. After they would slay the wooly mammoth, they would boil the bones and make soup. It's before bread; it's before any other prepared food. It's meat . . . vegetables . . . soup. That's what they made. And it's deeply embedded in virtually every culture around the world; and there's just great growth potential wherever you go."

 [Hotlink] Why Campbell's Couldn't Crack the World's Second Largest Soup Market, Justin Rohrlich, Minyanville, The Daily Feed, 29 June 2011

 

“What’s this Campbell’s is saying about me?

Charcoal art by Avian Chicken, Photobucket

It’s surprising that a top executive,  who later made $11,500,000 in 2009, could so garble his information.  Actually, most woolly mammoths disappeared 10,000 years ago, and soup wasn’t even made until 9,000 years ago.  Bread originated around 28,000 BC. 

Campbell’s gave statistics in 2007 that Americans eat soup just once a week, while Russians and Chinese  have soup around 5 times a week.  Larissa says 7 times a week sounds more accurate for Russia.

Bowls of soup!   Source unknown

United States                   Russia                       China

14 billion / year	32 billion	320 billion!
Pop. 312 million	Pop. just 143 million	Pop. 1.3 billion!

Recently American canned soup consumption  has trended downward.  One wag said that American younger people are now too lazy to use a can opener!  More likely it’s a result of aging demographics and revulsion to Campbell’s reputation for salt, MSG, and other chemical ingredients.  [Hotlink] Business Insider.

Tabatchnik’s or home cooked are better ways to enjoy soup.

Making adjustments for the tomatoes...

I diluted half of a can of tomato paste to a consistency I remember  for American condensed soup.*  Then I added some   spices... garlic, oregano, basil, sweet red pepper, and rosemary.  (Rosemary may reduce the carcinogenic effect of cooked beef.)

* ^{Usually we use simple canned tomato paste with no other ingredients from Krasnodarsky Krai... but this time it wasn’t available and I unwittingly grabbed a can sold by X5 Retail  Group.  It included sugar, salt, a thickener, potassium sorbate, and sodium benzoate.  These may be OK if you or your child aren’t allergic or hyperactive from these chemicals.}  

Russian beef is better beef...

Beef is imported or from Russian dairy cows or ( less likely) large scale feed lot production.  Russia is the largest importer of beef in the world. (recently from Europe and Australia) which reflects its historic troubles with raising beef cows. The masses here never have been large-portion meat eaters... especially now when (as in America) all but the rich are getting poorer.

The farsh (chuck chop), we buy from a little butcher has less water and fat than what I recall in America.  Russia wants nothing fed or made with GM grain.

Easy beef adjustment...

Without sufficient fat, it’s necessary to add an occasional  dose of olive or sunflower oil to the frying pan.

Carrigan Hamburger surrounded by seaweed, potatoes, cooked vegetables, with celery and dill trimmings.

Recipe notes...

Our supermarkets often are missing some spices such as dry mustard and thyme...  so I skipped these ingredients this time.  Russian supermarkets are not sharp about keeping items in stock. 

Simmering is the key to a tasty finish. I simmered for around 50 minutes on our (annoying) glass stovetop, sometimes at electric setting .5, but for the last 25 minutes at 1.0.

I noticed someone named this recipe for the church book MacDonald Hamburgers.

Here’s the recipe off the card. 

Carrigan Hamburgers

• 1 lb chopped chuck
• Large onion – chopped
• Bread crumbs
• Pepper, salt, thyme
• Dry mustard to taste
• Egg, beaten with a little milk

Combine above ingredients and shape into patties.  Roll in breadcrumbs and brown.  Pour off any fat in pan.  Cover with 1 can undiluted tomato soup.  Simmer covered ¾ hour.

So, enjoy!  Приятнгово аппетита!  Bon appétit!

Comments here or through the Wibiya strip below are very welcome! 

Technorati Tags: Condensed soup,Campbell's soup,Carrigan Hamburgers,Douglas Conant,GM grain,woolly mammoth,soup statistics.

The Mystery of the Russian Turnip... ‘Lass, why will ye no cook my neeps?’

Image via Wikipedia

 

The Expat Cook says...

Our up-to-date list of Russian Cooking Blogs is at the end of this post!

Russian wives are usually a compliant lot about what’s cookable in the Slavic kitchen.  True, Larissa doesn’t like smelly kidneys, and changes the subject when I talk about haggis.  But I wonder, why she refuses to cook turnips!

Madam, I’m sorry, I believe you have mistaken my rutabaga for your turnip!

The rutabaga.  In Scotland neeps = Swedes= rutabaga.  Required by law in the USA to be called rutabaga. Purple/yellow rough skin with yellow/orange flesh when cooked. Grows to 15 cm (6 inch) diameter.  Botanists view them as  a probable accidental hybrid from the early 1600s of the turnip and cabbage. Waxed for winter storage.  Sweet mild taste, loaded with nutrition.  Can winter over, no matter how severe the frosts.  Smooth leaves like those of the cabbage.

The Turnip.  White inside and out. Size ping-pong to tennis ball.    Good for stews.   Seed to harvest in a fast 5 to 8 weeks.  Must be harvested in the fall. Rough leaves with sparse hairs.

My quiet memories, and Larissa’s Soviet field work...

I assumed that a turnip had to have the same name everywhere.  What my mother taught me to cut safely and prepare for stew was actually a parafin-waxed rutabaga... .  All these years I have lived in ignorance!

While I was chopping rutabaga in New Jersey, Larissa was helping a collective farm get in the harvest in the Leningrad area... day trips from the research institute for hard but satisfying work!  If they had been harvesting rutabagas, there would have been no rush, as they can easily stay in the ground throughout the winter.  She correctly remembers that they were turnips, white round veggies that grew to a large size, only meant for pig fodder, which they still call with scorn... турнепс, turnips!

The Russian word for turnip is repa!

So Russians think a turnip is unacceptable food for people.   All these years Larissa has cooked what Russians call repa, which is (don’t tell!) a kitchen acceptable turnip.  The inside turns orange when cooked and its pungent taste is just right with melted butter.

Russians say brokva when they want rutabaga.

The other turnip-like vegetable Russians will cook is the brokva.  Only now, after days of talking with Russians and checking the Internet,  am I aware that brokva are rutabagas...the Holy Grail of what Scots use at their gatherings.  Eureka!

Mystery solved!

If I want some mashed Scottish turnips and potatoes, the ingredients, more or less, have always been at the market or cooling on the balcony.  I just need to ask for pronounced in English brokva e cartofelnoya puree... that is to say, bashed neeps and tatties!

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Consider writing us a Comment!  Just click comment on the next to last line of this post.

 

Our soon to be famous updated list of Russian Cooking Blogs.  Just scroll to the second half of the post that appears when you click Russian Cooking Blogs.

 

Articles and References

Are ‘Neeps’ Swedes or Turnips? Guardian.co.uk, Word of Mouth Blog, Oliver Thring

Turnip and its hybrid offspring http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/vegetabletravelers/turnip.html

 

Technorati Tags: Turnips,rutabaga,neeps,tatties,Swedes,accidental hybrid,parafin waxing vegetables,repa,brokva.

 

 

 

The Sharlotka Controversy… and 12 Recommended Russian Cooking Blogs!

Larissa and Antonovka
 

Would you like to comment about Russian food?  Click the title above and scroll down, or 16.11.10 or comments at the bottom… or visit us on our Facebook pages. It’s a good feeling to hear from you, our Readers!


This year we have the standard St Petersburg November of rain, snow, and wind. My brain fills with words such as Charlotka, Ushanka, Sharmanka.. 


Once upon a time in New Jersey…


There’s something about pronouncing Russian words po-slo-gam, by syllable,  that’s pleasing… Kol-got-ky, Mo-chal-ka!


I spoke these gems on the phone to my future mother-in-law.


She told Larissa, “Who is that crazy man that says underwear and bath scrubber to me.  No respect!”



Just trying to build my vocabulary!




As Russian as Sharlotka apple cake… 


Larissa loves cooking this cake for us… and for her daughter’s family. They live perpendicular to our apartment, and one floor  up.  We often get a phone call when we come home and push down on the light switch.


Whip this up when the guest is already on the front step!                 Gosty na parogee! cyrillic Гости на пороге


Ingredients…


This cake is easy and fast to make.  It requires 3 or more sliced apples, 3 or more eggs, a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, and the usual little bit of  baking soda in a spoon, mixed with vinegar. Optional ingredient ideas…  cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice (to make sweet apples more tart), sour cream, vinegar, salt.


Russia’s Antonovka apples…


Antonovka are best for this cake.  We brought home a rucksack bulging with apples.  Now Larissa buys Antonovka at the open air markets.  I guess the best American substitute would be Granny Smith or  MacIntosh.


Cooking steps…


Whip eggs, blend with sugar, add flour and a vinegar/baking soda solution.  You can use a whisk, egg beater, or blender.


Just pour the dough into a greased flat pan sprinkled with crumbs.  Add apple slices, and pour more.


A friendly controversy…


Some people stop there, but Larissa and Bkatya make layers! You can add more slices, pour dough on top, until there are three or more levels, adding the remaining dough to top it off.


This is less a Tempest in a teapot and more just another way to enjoy Sharlotka.


Either way you do it…


Cover with crumbs, place in a 350F (180C) preheated oven.  Cooking time is 20 minutes to one hour.  It depends which way you prepare it.  It’s ready when a toothpick comes out clean.  Place on a wet cloth for 5 minutes to cool, flip, and enjoy.  We often top Sharlotka with ice cream.


Thinking about sharlotka makes me hungry and happy!


If my  mood is dampened by the dark cold of autumn, I get cheerful reading food blogs.  I’m surprised there are only a dozen or so active Russian  cooking blogs in English.


MacDonald’s 12 Recomended Russian Cooking Blogs…  my  gift for our Readers! Just click on the blog name.


I searched for flavorful blogs that will help you remember old times or find what you can cook in your kitchen.  My favorites reflect the personality of the author and usually have good food photography.


Being an expat… and skuchno, Cyrillic скучно, meaning nostalgic, lonely, homesick… are inspirations for Russian food blogs… Some  writers have a baby or toddlers, another is by an older man. 


I put this list together so you can easily bookmark or follow any that you enjoy.


Bkatya by Katya, near Boston.  She has a Turkish  husband, and writes the cuisine of ‘my 3 countries’, as well as other impressions of the area. 

Kansas City With the Russian Accent  ‘Whatever comes to  mind of one Jewish-American’, Meesha includes Koscher food narratives, including gefilte fish. 

Moscow Gourmet Kitchen written by Irina Vodonos in Seattle includes details on this tasty cake… with a dough lattice top.  This blogger  gives cooking classes and caters, while also writing grant applications and attending the University of Washington for her masters.  She writes a warm narrative.


RusCuisine writer Olga has instructions for sharlotka with links to Russian Food Direct and RusClothing.  Good cooking tips.  Click stories and consider getting their cooking email.




Natasha’s Kitchen from Treasure Valley, Idaho is published by a Ukrainian-American  woman.  She has a variety of recipes and shares some about her life, too.


Russian Season in Latvia. Russian and East European recipes  cooked by mother Natalia and daughter  Alina.  Russians are a large minority in the Baltic States.  It is translated into Slovak by Stano, the son-in-law. 


Let’s Make Some Russian Food about Ukrainian and Russian Food.  Kristina Nedeoglo is from Sacramento California. She arrived in the US in 1991. 


Russian Food and Recipes From All Over the World.  Cristina Turcanu lives in New York City.   She is from small landlocked Moldova, famous for tasty food and great wines.


MacDonald’s Trivia A Romance language close to Romanian, Moldovans switched to Romanian Latin script from Cyrillic in 1989…except in Transnistria where Moldovan is still written in Cyrillic.


Everyday Russian Food… written by Sputniktomorrow, somewhere in the USA.



Windows to Russia w ritten by fellow expat and blogger Kyle Keeton and his wife Svet, from Moscow.   They have a Russian Foods category that is worth many visits.  They have a great selection of news and other features.



Mendeleyev Journal in Moscow and Phoenix has a top Cuisine of Russia section.


Anastasia's Blog is the food part of the Moscow Russia Insider's Guide





The long dark winter is a great time to check this blog list for recipes  and taste the results. Remember, food is a predictable pleasure.  Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: sharlotka,apple cake,antonovka apple,baking tips,12 Russian cooking blogs,Ukrainian food,East European food.

Fermented Russia

Image via Wikipedia

The Vodka Belt from Norway to the Bering Strait













Today we hear from the Expat Cook!  The weather since late August has been leaning towards a cold grey fall... It’s time to turn our thoughts to provisioning for a long winter in the Vodka Belt!
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The days are shortening towards darkness.  Sunrise is at 742, sunset at 1959.  Warm summer life is just a happy memory.
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Zymologically speaking...
I love to watch Larissa in her Russian kitchen!  It’s fascinating to see her turn cucumbers, tea, and cabbage  into scrumptious food I never tasted before.  
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Many of the most traditional foods and drink are made with fermentation, zymology, such as...
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                                       Russian                     Pronounced

lowsalt fermented cucumbers	мало  cолни огорец	mala salony agoretz
Kombucha fermented tea	коьбуча чайный гриб	kombucha chiny greeb
fermented   cabbage	квашеная                 капуста	kwashenaya kaposta

 -                                               
As well as ... milk products, bread, kvas, vodka, beer, dried sausage and pickled beets, mushrooms, or tomatoes... all based on fermentation!  
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Fermented cucumbers and cabbage are a essential part of the Russian way of  life.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn attributed great benefits to drinking Kombucha.
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It just wouldn’t be Russia without these scrumptious foods!


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Malosolonia Agoretza!
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If a Russian has a beer or a shot, he looks for the pickles.  They are on every table when  people gather for an event. 
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This summer we made low-salt pickles.  We grew, were given, or found on our front steps many cukes. 
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Russians are very particular about washing hands with soap before preparing or eating food.  Everything has to be  clean.
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America kitchens routinely have a set of metal or plastic measuring spoons on a ring.  The Russian personality doesn’t see the need for such exact measurement while cooking.  Things are added or diluted by eye and taste... I agree that in cooking -approximate is better than precise!
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Larissa placed the smaller cucumbers in an old two liter stainless steel milk can, and added water with a small amount of salt.
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Fermenting is decomposing.  This slow rotting process  is controlled  using salt. *
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* Russian table salt usually has no iodine or anti-caking agents. This lack is good for pickling but bad for Russians, as cabbage consumption also reduces iodine. Iodine deficiency is the main preventable cause of mental retardation.
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Iodized salt results in a darker less-pleasing appearance while  anti-caking agents make the briny mixture cloudy. The taste of salt varies in Russia whether it’s mined, from the sea, or iodized.
The best salt to use is specially produced pickling salt which has fine grains that mix well in the brine, making the process thorough and safer.
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You can follow your whimsy as to what else to add... maybe some onions with garlic and seeds from celery, dill, or mustard.  Then top it with parsley and dill leaves from the garden. 
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We left a covered can to ferment in the kitchen next to our drinking water.  Within three days we had delicious агорецы  for snacking and for our dinner plates.  If you leave them in the brine for five days they will change from lightly salted to the usual salted pickles.
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If you don’t wish to have added salt in your food, it’s easy to make pickles with equal parts of vinegar and water... and no salt.  They will taste fine, but they are not fermented.*
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*low sodium cooking tells you how.
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The Kombucha Monster from Russia... There’s a fungus among us!
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The first time I saw a mature ‘mushroom’ or ‘mother of vinegar’ culture (fungus) to make chinee greep, my reaction was...
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‘Ooh... What the heck is that?’
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It is a tough yet flexible growth that rests in the jar, something like a pancake.  It will conform to the jar’s diameter.
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This mass of yeast and bacteria can grow a separate daughter, which you can gift to a friend!
It’s scientific acronym... SCOBY... stands for Symbiotic Colony of Yeast and Bacteria.  {Scoobie doo, Scoby doo... }
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Leeda, Larissa’s friend five floors below us, gave her a kombucha last fall.  It was a simple matter of placing it in a large jar, and adding cooled black or green tea with sugar mixed in.  (Don’t use bergamot).  Often we added some leftover English Breakfast tea.
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Sugar helps the process and then is absorbed, so this is a drink some consider safe for diabetics.  Be careful with the sugar, the main food of the kombucha, as it stimulates alcohol production.  The resulting tea should be  no more than .5 to 1.5% alcohol. 
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It tastes sort of like apple cider.  It has many possible health benefits.
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We kept our brew on the  the counter with cheese cloth fastened with an elastic.  A few small glasses a  day seem to be a tonic for overall health, particularly good for digestion.
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Most articles say to brew separate batches, but we just added tea and a little sugar to the three liter jar...to what tasted right for us... not too sweet, not too acid.  We just continued to drink and add to it.
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The scoby gets a little sloppy after a month or two.  Then it’s time to put the scoby safely in a bowl with some of the jar’s former liquid. 
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You can clean off accumulated excess, even at times peel a layer off the bottom, with your freshly scrubbed  hands.  The scoby has a smooth flexible  feel, like a jelly fish.  
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Clean the jar, add freshly brewed tea, a little sugar, and the scoby with a cup or so of former liquid.   Really the same procedure as cleaning a fish tank, except this is a scoby tank.
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Our scoby grew around an inch thick so Larissa thought it would be a problem bringing it home on the train.  Now Larisssa has to tell Leeda that she left her ‘mushroom’ with her farmer cousin, and needs another one!
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Kombucha Cultures has a photo sequence on making this traditional drink. 
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Onibasu ... lots of information about the kombucha.  One woman uses a pizza cutter to share her scoby!
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Квашеная капуста... A big event in our apartment!
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I recently asked on Facebook ... “Is there anything more tasty than Квашеная капуста?”   (Russian sauerkraut)
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We are awaiting the first frost... первый заморозки... a signal that the hard green-white cabbage can be taken from the fields and sold to make kwashenaya kaposta (written so English speakers can pronounce it).  
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Impatient I am, but Larissa will not be rushed, even though I wanted  to  take photos for this post!  Last year was poor for such cabbages, so I’m hoping soon we will be more lucky.
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Larissa says that everyone has their own method.  She shreds the cabbage into нашинковать (cabbage slices),  puts them in a deep basin, adds salt, and works it all over with her hands... pushing, kneading, squeezing the juice out.
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She places large cabbage leaves on top, a large plate on top of that, and a  heavy stone or bricks on top of the plate!  All this to weigh the cabbage below the water and juice. 
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Larissa places the basin for three days next to the kitchen radiator (if the heat is on... now it still isn’t), lances it with a long spike to release gas, and checks it a few times a day. 
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I loved to sit in the kitchen,  look at the basin with the juices seeming to percolate, and smell the wonderful aroma with happy expectation filling my brain!
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Cabbage fermentation is considered a good protector from bad bacteria, a way to increase vitamin C (fight scruvy), and has other health claims made for it.
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Call to Action!
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These three kitchen projects are activities of Russian culture... reaffirming links to centuries past.   Reading a book can be rewarding but I find using my hands in the kitchen to make food the traditional way mentally and physically satisfying.
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So, Get Thee to the Kitchen, and make a food that your grandparents prepared... and be good to your genes!
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WE ENJOY HEARING FROM YOU!
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Please contact us in a way comfortable for you...
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Blog Comments Click the date ... 22.9.10 or the title, Fermented Russia. Scroll down, and click Post a Comment.

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• Possible Side Effects and Health Benefits of Kombucha Mushroom Tea (brighthub.com)

Salty Expat Observations in St Petersburg

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I would take that with a pinch of salt!
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You are the salt of the earth. Matthew 5,  13-16
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Хлеб да соль! Traditional Russian greeting... Bread and salt!

As the so-called Expat Cook... and someone who must eat... I have an interest in Russian food labelling conventions. By observing the situation in St Petersburg we can better understand an aspect of Russian behavior, and return from the market with foods low in salt.

No expat refuge for the low salt types!

I wonder, is there a good place to be an expat if you must have a low salt diet? My taste runs to dry, salty, bitter, sharp, and strong foods. But since 1993, I have had to reduce my salt , particularly since episodes of Brawny edema in the last two years.

My excellent cardiologist has me on a no salt and restricted fluid diet. This is to prevent edema that can come back easily, as my affected heart leaves my kidneys weakened. I am lucky in this situation to not live in the Land of the Hidden Salt. 

Here we use olive oil and vinegar, sour cream, or occasionally mayonnaise (which does have some salt).  Meanwhile back in the States, their are rows of Wishbone and other prepared salad dressings, that have up to a half gram of salt in one serving.

What you see is what you get!

Our modern supermarket has no prepared salad dressings, but jars of caviar and plastic wrapped smoked fish as impulse items at the checkout. In comparison to the US, few things are sold with hidden salt, while many items are clearly salty... and easy to avoid.

Somehow it's like a Russian smile... What you see is what you get!... There are few foods presented with hidden salt, and you can easily spot the obviously salty foods.

I walked to the Season supermarket today to verify that there were no prepared salad dressings for sale. Sometimes we don't see what we are not looking for, and I wanted to be sure about this statement. I found a few jars above a freezer with garlic sauce, spaghetti sauce, but their size was too small to be of any value, and it looked like these items sat there a long time. 

 

It's been almost twenty years since the big change in '91. If Russians still are not buying packaged dinners and bottled salad dressing, it's going to be a long time till these items catch on. 

Russians have a mindset that packaged prepared foods are sort of dumb... expensive, not very tasty, and not satisfying. To most of them kitchen time is worth it. I hear meanwhile that Americans like to brag by saying how quickly they made a meal. What are they saving time for?

Most Russians think a little extra salt is good for you

At home in our apartment on the 10^th floor, we have a typical wooden saltbox hanging by the stove. Most Russians look on salt as a necessary ingredient for their dishes, and good for you.

Just about everything gets a pinch a few times while cooking, and then for good measure there is a round salt dish or salt shaker, солонка, on the table for each to season to taste. Many put on the salt first, and then taste. Larissa tries to not add salt while cooking and checks seasoning for salt additives before using them.

Babula, Larissa's mom, at the dacha last summer, brought her own private supply of salt to the table in a small yoghurt bottle. She likes rough salt and knows it's good for her... After all she has lived with heavy salt intake all her years, from the village of her youth, to the Red Army on the way to Berlin, and her many years as a typist for the government.

Russian cuisine is salt cuisine...

Soleniye oguretz, салона агорец... salted cucumbers, are an integral part of drinking vodka or beer. Every midday meal is expected to have soup, even in the summer. Salonka солонка and Rassolnik рассольник got their names from the Russian word for salt... соль. 

 

Salt is added to caviar to prevent freezing (which would destroy the fish eggs).  Malossol, little salt, is the preferred method to process carviar.

Russians still sometimes greet travellers and bride and groom with a loaf of bread held on an embroidered cloth, with a salt cellar balanced, or placed in a hole carved in the top. 

 

Less is more

Wherever you live, whatever your age, maintaining your salt consumption at 3 to 6 grams a day is essential!

Are you feeling bloated, having trouble tying your shoes? Then cut back on the amount of water you drink, food you eat, and your level of salt intake. For proper cell action, such as osmosis, we need some salt in our diet. Problem is that most people have much more salt than they need. By checking labels and not adding salt, you can feel better than you do now.

Less salt means less kidney stress, better regulation of fluid balances, often lower blood pressure, less loss of calcium. When kidneys excrete an oversupply of salt they also expel needed calcium.

Flavors that salt masks will reappear, making your food more interesting. 

You are less likely to have water retention which over time can lead to high blood pressure, heart and kidney disease.  Salty food gives people an unnatural thirst. It's a medical myth that you need six glasses of water a day.

In sum, high salt can foster high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, calcium (bone) loss, and stomach cancer.

American salt use

American usually eat salted butter. The good news is that their salt is usually fortified with iodine, which prevents goiter and cretinism. The ICCIDD said 70% of households worldwide had iodized salt in 2000.

Russian salt use

Russians use unsalted butter, what Americans call Kosher butter.  Iodine isn't added to salt here.  

Fewer processed foods are consumed, so even with heavy use of the salt shaker, lower salt levels result.

Larissa has never seen processed foods labeled no or low salt in St Petersburg.   Such a label would have no sales appeal here.  Most people think that salt is generally good for you, necessary to bring out flavor, and has no connection with high blood pressure, kidney, or heart disease. 

I have rarely if ever seen a Russian shopper read a label.

The public health authorities have their hands full with campaigns to reduce cigarette, alcohol, and drug use, and low salt seems to get no attention..

Salt facts

Salt is found in bread, cheese, shampoo, soap, and candy.

Sodium Chloride NACL = table salt.  

The world leader of salt production is the United States, with Russia second

Solikamsk, Urals, on the Kama River, has been mining salt since 1430

It's a popular myth but not true that the Roman soldiers were paid in salt, therefore the word salary.

The term salad derives from the Roman practice of salting leafy vegetables.

Salt can be a wound disinfectant.

Some fire extinguishers use salt.

Half of all mined salt is used for the icy roads.

Salt is an inexpensive desiccant and anti-caking agent for powered cheese, other products.

A few peeled potatoes dropped in cooking water will remove a lot of salt.

Ancient man 5,000 years ago used only .25 grams of sodium a day! This changed when the Chinese discovered salt was a good preservative.

Manufacturers add salt to adhere with water, making their product heavier and more expensive.

Salty Statistics

82.5% of salt is used in industry... paper, dyes, soaps... Only 17.5% is used as an ingredient in food. .

75% of our salt ingestion comes from processed foods, such as bread, pizza, and cheese.

Bread accounts for 20% of our salt consumption.

How sodium relates to salt is a basic confusion!

Is sodium the same as salt? No, it's less powerful. To get the amount of salt, you have to multiply the amount of sodium by 2.5.

For example...

If you figure your total sodium today was 2.7... then multiply it by 2.5 to get a true level of salt ingested for the day... 6.75 grams of salt. 

Low salt targets hard to achieve

The British government wants their people to consume no more than 6 grams of salt each day.

500 mg sodium = 1250 mg salt, is an adequate daily amount for adults. But it's rare that anyone achieves even three times this amount... 3.75 grams... because salt is hard to avoid.

A large majority of adults, especially those with high blood pressure, as well as children, should have much less salt... around 3.8 grams a day. Now, many have around 9 to 12 grams of salt a day, a lot of it from candy and other hidden sources

Our well-behaved small neighbor

Finland since 1970 has been working to reduce dietary salt.  The resulting 40% reduction has caused a large drop in average blood pressures, and an 80% reduction in deaths from stroke.

The Salt Institute, a trade group, says that while Finns have reduced their overall daily salt from 14 to 8 grams, health gains these past thirty years have been less than its neighbors that have no low salt programs. Statistics can be a circular exercise.

Reading food labels in Russia

Состав is Russian for ingredients. They are listed according to an international convention of 'decreasing order of proportions'. 

The font size in Russia seems to be unregulated.  Mayonaisse containers have close to illegible font size.

A Call to Action!
 

Everyone needs to keep an eye on salt consumption, adjust to cultural differences, and beware of processed food laden with salt. Wherever you live, you need to watch your salt, and be alert to the tricky ways ingredients can be presented.  

It is a good idea to check with your local public health office to find out average community levels of salt and iodine.  The salt amount will be high, but the iodine level may be low.  Then check your own statistics.

Now you can put together a plan to improve your overall health by bringing your salt level down, at least to 6 grams, or better, less.  Let us know what you find out, what your plan is, and the reaction of those around you!

References and  resources

http://www.salt.gov.uk/sodium_and_salt.html Salt... Is Your Food Full of It?

http://www.theheart.org/article/1042623.do The heart.org by WebMD.

http://www.freshcaviar.com/caviarfaq.asp caviar facts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_salt Slavic customs

http://www.lowsaltfoods.com/information/aboutus.htm reference

Let us know what you think! 
  
Were you aware of the high amount of salt in processed foods?  
How low do you think you can bring your own salt level?  
Should governments get involved in reducing salt consumption?

To Comment, click the title or 21.4.10.  Then scroll down and click Post a Comment .  We love to hear from you!

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