The Russian woman was surprised by the Chinese buying Russian sausage in Beijing
So-called Russian stores in different countries of the world sell products that are not available in ordinary foreign supermarkets. Travelers and Russians living abroad spoke about the prices, assortment and preferences of foreigners in such stores. Their stories were collected by Lenta.ru.
The Chinese are buying Russian products as “exclusive”
Travel blog author “Like Travel Travel” I visited a Russian store in the center of Beijing and admitted that I was shocked by what I saw. According to her, the Chinese are lining up to buy and try domestically produced products that are “exclusive” to them.
The blogger said that she was surprised by the love of Beijing residents for Russian sausage. “Okay, if I had seen an unusual one, for example, made from horse meat or venison, then perhaps I would not have experienced such a shock, since I found an explanation. (…) But it’s unclear why they need Russian sausage when there’s a huge selection of their own products?” — the Russian woman asked, adding that almost all the sausage in this store cost 29 yuan (about 366 rubles).
The Russian woman also noted that in the store she found a lot of chocolate from Russia, which is considered almost a delicacy in China. “Here I can understand the reason for the demand, because there is no local chocolate in China (I couldn’t find it). They sell many different types of candies and sweets here, but not chocolate (most often something like kozinaki, marmalade, nougat and fruit marshmallows), the Chinese simply don’t eat it,” the author of the publication wrote.
In addition, she noticed that Russian beer in a Beijing store was sold for 300 rubles, cookies for 260 rubles, gingerbread cookies for 390 rubles, and imitation caviar for the price of the real thing (from 900 to 1200 rubles)
“This is how the cunning Chinese profit from their compatriots!” — the Russian woman was indignant.
In Malta, horseradish and adjika are bought in a Russian food store
Another Russian travel blogger with the nickname TravelManiac visited the Russian Meal store in a satellite town of the Maltese capital Sliema. He said that he found there brands of products that are never found in domestic supermarkets. For example, Three Little Pigs sausages or sauerkraut in jars of the Pogrebok brand. The store also offered a wide range of canned fish: sprats, cod liver, mackerel in oil and gobies.
As the seller told me, some of the most popular products are horseradish and adjika. Seeds are also a very popular product. Moreover, in any country and in any Russian store
The traveler added that many Russian products were of German origin. “But this is a traditional story in many European countries: the main production facilities are located in Germany, Poland and the Baltic states,” explained the author of the publication.
Vietnamese prefer fried dumplings and laugh at cottage cheese
Vietnamese supermarkets stock many Russian-made products. Mostly expats and tourists from Russia shop there, but some locals also find something interesting for themselves.
“I buy a lot of Russian products in Vietnam. For example, butter, sweets, seeds, cheese. I also like Olivier salad, herring under a fur coat, mashed potatoes and pumpkin soup,” admitted a Vietnamese named Do Tung.
A Russian woman living in Vietnam, Alina, noticed that local residents are perplexed about fermented milk products.
I didn’t notice any disgust, but it seems to me that they don’t understand the kind of cottage cheese we eat. I often buy cottage cheese in large portions at Butter&Cream and see that the saleswoman is laughing at this – they say, how can you eat it?
Another Russian woman said that she once read in a public page dedicated to life in this Asian country a story about how a group of compatriots invited the Vietnamese home “for dumplings.”
“They stuck it together, cooked it – they tried it, grimaced and said: “Give us the frying pan!” And they fried them with pepper until they turned into chips. This was delicious for them,” she was surprised.
The British appreciated buckwheat porridge
Blog author “Life in England” noted that in the Russian store “Natasha” in the UK you can buy everything that cannot be found in local supermarkets, although the prices for food there are high.
“A lot of products familiar to Russians are produced for Europe, in particular for Germany, so most often the inscriptions are in German,” she wrote, adding that, for example, a jar of pickles is sold in this store for 2.7 pounds sterling (about 314 rubles), and green peas – for 2.6 pounds sterling (about 300 rubles).
In addition, the Russian store offers a variety of sauces, mayonnaise, seeds and buckwheat.
Buckwheat porridge is becoming more popular among the British. Previously, they did not perceive it at all and did not know how to eat it. Now this “superfood”, as they call it, can be found in the “health” sections of some stores. They sell green buckwheat more often, and not the one we are used to
Italians were delighted with Olivier salad, and New Zealanders were delighted with mashed potatoes with cutlets
Not only store-bought products, but also a variety of Russian cuisine often also appeal to foreigners. For example, the author of a travel blog “This is not the place for you” shared a story about how she prepared Olivier salad for Italian friends and received a lot of compliments.
According to the Russian woman, first she put a small bowl of salad, which in Italy is called Russian, on the dining table, where there were traditional Sicilian dishes. In the end, it had to be refilled two more times because guests kept asking for more.
“In Italy, Russian salad is very popular; you can even find it ready-made in supermarkets. True, it tastes terrible, just mayonnaise, no meat and not even peas. In general, if you prepare Olivier for Italians, the chances are high that they will like it, because they are already a little accustomed to this taste,” the blogger assured
But local residents are wary of instant coffee and hot chocolate in bags and smoked fish sold in Russian stores in Italy.
Another Russian travel blogger, Marina Ershova, decided to treat her New Zealander acquaintances to her own homemade cutlets with mashed potatoes.
“You can’t imagine how much I was praised. The puree turned out delicious, simply delicious. That's because I added an incredible amount of homemade butter and milk to it. It came out like whipped cream. The pensioners said that they had never eaten anything better in their lives,” the traveler shared.
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