Archive for May, 2009
East Europe and Eurasia
When you are planning your next trip to the East Europe countries and Eurasia check Christian Orthodox holidays calendar for the next fast. The Orthodox traditions prescribes during this periods totally vegan menu. In general, fasting means abstaining from meat and meat products, dairy (eggs and dairy products) and fish. There are two major and more well-known fasts during the Orthodox year: 1. Christmas Fast or Nativity Fast between November 28th and January 6th 2. Great Lent which consists of the 6 weeks (40 Days) preceding and precedes Pascha (Easter). There some other fasts: Apostles’ Fast, the Dormition Fast, a two-week long Fast preceding the Dormition of the Theotokos (repose of The Virgin Mary), lasting from August 1 through August 15 and others. In the last few years keeping of the orthodox traditions became popular in the post Soviet society and become stronger in other Eastern Europe countries. Regarding to this tendency people exposed to the principals of the fast’s diet. During these special periods majority of cafes and restaurants have special fast menu. In addition, even not in the fast period, you can try to order ‘fast dish’. In Russian, use the terming “post” or “postnoe menu”.
2 comments May 20, 2009
Russia and other Eastern European countries
Russia and other Eastern European countries
I travel a lot to Eastern Europe. Few years ago it was incredibly difficult to find in restaurants vegan meals.
The main enemy of the vegans in this region is a lack of basic awareness. Most will not understand your diet, and even if you try to explain that you don’t eat any meat, after all the efforts you might still get the chicken pirogues. This actually happened to me in my first domestic flight from Moscow to Yekaterinburg. I ordered a vegetarian dish in advance, and I got one. The problem was that my food was a 100 years old and a totally rotten. When I turned to the steward and told her that my meal had spoiled she ignored me. When I explained to her, that she had to find the solution, she finally offered her lunch box with the chicken pirogues…
When ordering the salad in the restaurant – be careful. It might be helpful to prepare an exact list of what you don’t eat! Explain to the waiter, that the meat dish is not just a dish with meat pieces but also the meat based soup. Don’t forget to mention, that you don’t eat mayonnaise: you will find it everywhere, in all kinds of salads, potato dishes etc.
Actually, if you try to explain your vegan diet and try to get something to eat this way, the chances not to starve are close to zero. However, there are few solutions!
In the last few years something good has happened that gives us hope! In the big cities, you will find a lot of Asian cuisine restaurants and Sushi bars. Most of them will have a vegetarian menu.
When I am in Moscow meeting with my friends, I usually go to Pekinskaya Utka (Pekin duck) chain:
http://www.ytka.ru/
In their branches, there is a salad bar. You can fill up the plate with all kinds of fresh and pickled vegetables and even soy milk skin (sparja). The salad bar could include:
white wood mushrooms and black mushroom salad, laminaria salad, cucumber and garlic salad, Sichuan style cabbage, assorted soy sticks and mushrooms, celery salad, colored soy shoot salad, Chinese carrot salad, lily shoot salad, soy noodles and etc.
However, you have to be careful…It has happened to me that I didn’t notice the difference between strips of pig’s ear, squid and radish…
This is a cheap and “friends’ friendly” solution because they will have lots of choices what to have while you’ve arranged for yourself the safe dish (almost).
3 comments May 2, 2009
