August 30, 2021

Concrete Jungle


Concrete Jungle
Perhaps the best thing to ever come out of a shawarma restaurant... except maybe shawarma.  Photo by Julian Weibrecht via Unsplash

In the middle of a city, a robust tomato plant might not be the first thing you would expect to find growing out of the asphalt, but if you visit the city of Tver you would find just that. 

City residents were quite confused at first by how exactly the mysterious fruit-bearing plant came to be there. One (and the only) theory suggests that a local shawarma shop, which has a habit of pouring extra tomato juice outside on the street, accidentally planted the seeds that created the plant.

The unusual heat of this summer has allowed the plant to do exceptionally well; it even produced a few tomatoes! Residents are quite fond of the plant already, saying that the greenery "feels good" in the urban environment

Apparently, this isn't the first time that an event like this happened this summer in Russia. At the beginning of August, a similar tomato plant popped up in the middle of a paved sidewalk in Ivanovo too. After all, the only thing better than fresh summer tomatoes are fresh summer tomatoes that are free

You Might Also Like

How Does Your Garden Grow?
  • September 01, 2000

How Does Your Garden Grow?

For everything there is a season. And it's time to harvest some garden/dacha-related idioms.
Mementos of Russian Summer
  • July 01, 2003

Mementos of Russian Summer

Summer is hay-cutting time and time to battle with the weeds and pests that embroil the private plot. Visit summer in the village of Chukhrai in Bryansk region.
Tver
  • May 17, 2016

Tver

Olga Titova takes us to Tver, a main city located between Moscow and St. Petersburg, a land of candles and goats, bridges and rivers.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955