Unconventional Foods People Ate In Soviet Russia

The Soviet Union took shape after a series of revolutions during the early 20th century. Characterized by some of its best-known leaders, namely Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin, the Soviet Union spanned thousands of miles and was made up of hundreds of ethnic groups.

As the administrative and cultural hub of the Soviet Union, Russia was the largest socialist republic. After WWII, Soviet Russia and the whole of the Soviet Union found itself under the authoritarian rule of Josef Stalin, the dictator who implemented collectivist policies, gulags, and other repressive tactics to maintain his power. Standards of living declined and people struggled to survive, often scrounging for whatever food they could find.

#SovietUnion #JosefStalin #WeirdHistory

[joachimlewandowski]

American: "these are unconventional Soviet foods"
And then they proceed to list off the food that Eastern and central Europeans eat every day nowadays

[aacljc]

Honestly, this video should just be re-titled as “Most common Russian dishes that people have been eating for centuries and still continue to eat”

[k.a.]

When your normal everyday meals are described as unconventional food

[elizabethgavrilova]

I am Russian, living in Canada, and I'd say 99% of these dishes were a staple in our household...it was not unconventional food, it is part of ordinary Russian cuisine. And continues to be, post- USSR times.. Nothing odd or desperate about any of these dishes- they're all delicious and common!

[grgr]

it's honestly disgusting to talk about the horror of Leningrad without telling your audience that the reason for the catastrophic situation was that the Germans deliberately tried to starve every inhabitant of the city.

[romik]

This is literally normal slavic food. No idea how tf these foods are "unconventional"

[TheMrCazano]

These are just traditional slavic foods, still eaten (and loved!) to this day.

[Ildikoprepperkitchen]

This video was so inaccurate.The foods are staples in Slavic kitchen. They actually really tasty even if here was shown in a bad light. The curd is similar to ricotta. Borscht is like a cream soup. Mayo salad is like potato or egg salad. Most Europans are familiar with these foods.Has nothing to do with Soveit Union Era. Please do not spread ignorance.

[ImNotaRussianBot]

As a Russian, these foods are my everyday foods.

[SgtRocko]

Growing up in the USSR, I remember most of the foods mentioned - and living in the USA NOW we STILL eat most of them (and a bunch of others - Makaroni po Flotski, Salat Olivier, etc.). We were more likely to eat Solyanka than Rassolnik. Eggs were available, but not in the greatest of quantities, so we had them either IN things or boiled to better enjoy them. Caviar was always available, and even as kids we had it - though mainly for get togethers or holidays. For beef or pork as things like steaks or chops... that was extremely rare - and when available everyone either sliced them up or cubed them for stews or dishes with lots of veggies. I don't recall ever eating a beef steak growing up. To this day, my former Soviet friends/family (even here in the USA) tend not to have steaks or chops (heck, most of us don't really know how to cook them LOL). Sausage & tinned meat (Tuschjonka - beef or pork in sauce were the mainstays). When minced meats came into the shops the queues were immediate and huge - and the entire city would smell of Kotleti that night LOL GENERALLY, in order to buy such "defitsit" items like meat, you could only do so by buying items that were not popular. Almost always tinned seaweed salad. For every kilo of meat/sausage, you had to buy 2 or 3 tins of seaweed salad. It was only a few Kopeks, but everyone's shelves were FULL of the small tins LOL If you refused... NEXT COMRADE! So we bought. NOW I love the stuff, but as a kid I despised seaweed salad (and it was a few Kopeks then, here in the USA I'm paying over $3/tin LOL). To this day we eat a lot of Buckwheat (we're Jewish, so we have it with pasta, not so much as porridge). Americans tend to be EXTREMELY haughty & dismissive of Buckwheat - they don't like the smell, yadda yadda yadda... good. More for US! So... this video is fun, but we ate the foods shown because we LIKED them, and not out of some dire necessity. Yes, life under Socialism was insanely difficult and boring... but we ate quite well, drank well... and - sit down for this - we even enjoyed ourselves sometimes. And I pity Americans who eat Bologna - our Doctorskaya is SO much better (we eat Doctorskaya and Tsarskaya now... like Soviet ice cream, our sausages and breads were SUPERIOR)

[slashpointo]

Alternate title: Foods you eat at your grandmother`s house

[nicobambino]

Bro this is just normal Slavic food
I grew up with this

[JSSell]

Russian isn't even my first language and these pronunciations still hurt my soul. And none of these are even unconventional. Come on y'all, your content is usually better than this

[missvenom]

As a Romanian, we make” borș”(borsh) not with broth but by preparing ahead a sour, fermented liquid from bran, lovage leaves, thyme and hot water poured then left to ferment for few days then strained and added to the boiled meat/vegetables to sour the dish. In some regions of the country they use green grapes, smashed and the juice was used to add sourness to the borș. Also, “borș” is soured with the fermented liquid called borș, but “ciorba”(chiorba) is soured with small amount of vinegar.

[iamnothale]

You miss out on "Doctor's Sausage"
It's basically pink meat made as a dietary supplement to people exhibiting signs of prolonged starvation.
Because it was mild-tasting, inexpensive and relatively healthy source of meat (when meat supply was low), it became popular in the USSR and to this very day.

[PallidTrash]

My grandmom made the BEST borscht I ever tasted . She gave me the recipe before her passing but I can never make it without her. There is something about the smells in the kitchen that brings back fond memories.❤️❤️ Miss you Nana R.I.P

[MagMaybe]

I grew up in Estonia and I am half Russian. All this is completely normal food. USSR was HUGE and had many different cultures mixed in. All of this is normal food, not something starving people ate. Much of this food is something grandmothers would cook for family or grandkids. All of them are absolutely delicious and tasty. I have cooked most of these myself for my husband and he loves them. Our absolute favorites are Soljanka, kotleti and buckwheat porridge with pork and onions. My Grandmother and my aunt were both survivors of Leningrad Blockade and things people ate there were pretty much as described- saddles, leather belts and boots, animals of any variety (cats, dogs, rats, horses) and even children.

[j-rocd]

I work at a college as a cook and we have many international students. I always asked them what foods they miss from home. The guys from Serbia said soups and that they are a staple at every meal. The soups they described sounded delicious. Some of the russian students brought me dried shredded squid for beer snacks. A Thai student brought me back boat noodles. A student from amsterdam brought me stroopwafels. I love my job lol. Excuse me I'm going to make braised short ribs right now! If you're genuinely curious and respectful of other people's cultures its easy to make friends. Thank you I really enjoy this channel!

[barbryll]

The aspic is something we grew up eating. My Polish Mom would make it and we'd eat it with vinegar . She called it gallaretka.
Years later I realize it's essentially bone broth in solid basically a superfood.
Thanks mom 💕💕🍎

[caroh]

That beet salad “Vinegret” is eaten a lot in Peru. Its called- Ensalada Rusa- translated is literally Russian Salad. The ingredients are: beets, potatoes, carrots, mayonaise( or a drizzle of oil), salt, pepper.