Food on the Run

Americans are not the only ones who seek out fast food. The Russians also like to eat on the run. City streets were once filled with hawkers who sang out colorful descriptions of their goods. You could buy sbiten, a hot spiced honey drink, from the sbitenshchiki carrying urns on their backs, or fresh milk from molochnitsy, whose shoulders sagged under heavy buckets suspended on a yoke. Pirozhniki sold piping hot pirozhki for kopeks apiece. Although itinerant vendors no longer contribute to Russia’s urban fabric, a quick bite is still part of the typical Russian day.

Most Russian cities boast a zakusochnaya or two (from the verb zakusit, to have a bite) where you can order food quickly. A popular zakusochnaya chain is Kroshka-kartoshka, which specializes in stuffed baked potatoes.  If you don’t feel like eating their famous “potatoes in a jacket,” you can order Georgian chicken stew (chakhokhbili) or Ukrainian dumplings (vareniki) and wash it all down with Nestea or Poweraid – surely a sign of the times.

Other Russian fast-food franchises have sprung up to compete with McDonald’s. Rostik’s specializes in roasted chicken, while Kombi’s offers sandwiches and Oreo milkshakes. If you want less generic food, you can go to Yolki-palki or Mumu, two informal restaurant chains that offer home-style Russian dishes like borshch and cutlets. But if you are really in a rush, seek out a zabegalka, another type of snack bar whose name comes from the verb zabegat – to drop in. And that’s just what you must do, since there is not a chair in sight. Patrons at zabegalki eat standing up at tall, round tables, a design guaranteed to increase dining speed, since there is nowhere to sit down and relax.

If you literally have to eat on the move, then you can grab a bite at any of the thousands of kiosks that pepper Russia’s streets. Even during the Soviet era, when the number of kiosks was limited, you could always find ice cream stands as well as kiosks selling hot pirozhki and – if you were lucky – vatrushki, open-faced pies filled with farmer’s cheese. Best of all were the kiosks selling ponchiki, fresh doughnuts that were handed over in a paper cone, still dripping with grease.

These days, in Russia’s new entrepreneurial climate, so many kiosks have sprouted up that, in 2004, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov waged war against them, citing them as a safety hazard. But the very makeshift quality of the kiosk “cities” that have grown up around many metro stations makes them lively, like the marketplaces of old. So when Luzhkov announced his intentions to clear the streets, people protested, and his purge remained incomplete. Muscovites can enjoy as much variety as ever, ordering bliny made to order with any number of fillings, the much-loved chebureki (Crimean meat pies), or the more recently introduced shaurma (meat kebabs). Tiny kiosks in underpasses and metro tunnels also provide a quick caloric fix in the form of candy, soft drinks and pastries.

If you still find yourself hungry while on the run, there is one other fast-food stop to keep in mind: the rynok, or farmers’ market. It is a wonderful place to graze. Most purveyors are eager to have you sample their produce, and they will vie for your attention. But beware – sampling free food at the market is not always a bargain. After you’ve tasted ultra-sweet golden raisins from Uzbekistan or tangy Armenian string cheese, you’ll probably want to buy a lot more to savor at your leisure.

Semechki

Toasted Sunflower Seeds

Russians love to munch on these crisp seeds, which they consider perfect street food – you can always tell when someone has been enjoying them from the hulls scattered on the pavement.

1 cup sunflower seeds in the hull

2 tablespoons butter

Salt to taste (optional)

Melt the butter and toss the seeds in it to coat them well.

Preheat the oven to 325o F. Turn the seeds out onto a baking sheet and separate them. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until just golden.

Eat the seeds as is, out of your hand, or shell and salt them.

Makes two snack-size servings.

Adapted from a Taste of Russia