First Time in Russia

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Submitted January 31, 2001
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First Time in Russia - A veggie-s view!

This is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to Russia, or even to
Moscow. If you want one of those, you can pay for it! However, whatever
guidebook you buy, it-ll tell you Moscow-s not place for a vegetarian, so
we decided to try it out. In mid-winter. These are some notes from our
experiences.

What to expect

Russian Customs

Expect to wait at least an hour to pass through customs!

Airport to city

We did it the easy way - $40 and we were met perfectly on time, given a
brief tour of the city centre and deposited warmly at the door to our
apartment. The ability to walk calmly through the hoards of taxi drivers
and say "Nyet" is not to be underestimated.

The cold

Our first shock, stepping out onto the streets of Moscow (-13 celcius).
Actually it-s not so bad if you prepare. See Things to Bring for some
hints.

Food

Our next surprise was the abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit.
Admittedly, it helped being given a brief tour of the local shops and
stalls, otherwise it may have taken us a while longer to discover that
Moscow was indeed veggie friendly. Prices weren-t much different from the
UK (bear in mind that most fresh veg is imported in the winter) Our first
evening we ate aubergine, courgette and mushrooms, lightly fired in olive
oil with garlic and ginger, served with rice. Yum.

Meat alternatives

The House of Honey seemed to be the best place near our apartment to buy
soya. They had a good selection of shapes and flavours v well worth
visiting for the honey and the tea as well! Pasha pointed out 2 or 3 other
places where meat alternatives can, from time to time, be bought.

Eating out

Check www.vegrussia.org for listings. We also looked at a few other places
v admittedly not traditional Russian cuisine, but there are plenty of
Indian, Italian, Chinese etc. places with vegetarian dishes. Also, try
sloika kartoichka from local stalls.

Our personal favourite was a small cafИ recommended on vegrussia. v Troika
Most Cafe in St Petersburg. Their selection includes mushroom soup, soya
kebabs, potato pstries and a wide selection of salads v not to mention the
things on the menu we couldn-t translate¦

Having said this, it was a real advantage being able to cook in our own
apartment and not having to worry about checking menus every night to make
sure we could eat something!

Things to bring

So far as the cold goes, bear in mind that inside it-ll be warm, so layers
are probably a good idea. We tried granny-s trick of thermal bests and it
worked! There are plenty hats for sale (not all fur!), but it-s a good idea
to bring hat, scarf and gloves with you, if only for your first venture into
the cold. Again, we went thermal with these and similarly with socks.
Other than that, we both wore a T-shirt layer, a thin jumper and a thicker
fleece. A waterproof jacket on top can be useful when it snows heavily.
Another trick is to find the shoe insoles which are reflectiove on one side
and fleecey on the other. They really work.

As always, Marmite is an essential (esp. for vegans v B12) and we didn-t
find any over here.

Bring decent shoes / boots with good grips. Russians seem to wear
everything from sandals to high heeled shoes v wouldn-t advise trying it in
winter.

Travel

Our limited experience of this was an overnight train to St Petersburg.
After an afternoon spent wandering looking for the Central Railway Agency,
with no results, we asked Olesya fro help with buying tickets. This may
sound pathetic, but for a non-Russian, $30 is a small price to pay for
knowing you-re on the right train, to the right destination and you-ve paid
the surcharges. The trains are very warm and sheets / blankets are
provided. Make sure you have a thin layer to sleep in - the top bunk gets
very hot.

And Uncle Pasha?

We found Pasha over the internet and were completely unsure what to expect
when we met the man in the flesh. We were relieved to find him welcoming,
helpful and upfront. Our trip to Russia would have been very different
without him!

C. Robertson and G. Little

Home: www.vegrussia.org E-mail: info@vegrussia.org

Last update December 17, 2001