American Food

[groovlstk]

[user=115]Donna_Pedro[/user] wrote:

women in US do not care, they put "sexy" shorts on 200lbs body and feel proud of themselves.

In truth, no matter what you read in magazines and see on TV, the number of American women who truly don't care about their weight is very, very low (although I'll concede it's higher than in Europe, and I'll also concede that many obese US women will claim to not care about their appearance. However, they're lying).

Years ago, there was a popular TV sitcom that starred several obese women (I forget the name as I don't watch much TV). One of the women was very outspoken about how comfortable she was with her obesity, and magazines and TV programs praised her for her candidness and courage. However, shortly after her sitcom was cancelled, this same woman wrote a book in which she explained that her bravado was bullsh*t--she hated her appearance yet couldn't control her appetite.

If you look at the NY Times Best Sellers list, you'll see that diet books make up the bulk of the best sellers. I used to work in publishing, and I know these books are specifically marketed to women. Fad diets are insanely popular, also. It's all a smokescreen, and obese US women take comfort in it as it allows them an excuse to reach for another donut, but I'm willing to bet that their last thought before they fall asleep at night is a fervent wish to be slim.

[wxman]

[user=115]Donna_Pedro[/user] wrote:

women in US do not care, they put "sexy" shorts on 200lbs body and feel proud of themselves.

That mental image just sent shivers down my spine. Anybody lose their appetite? 

 

[Son of Clyde]

Lets not forget that the US invented anorexia. A disease where normal sized women starve themselves to death. And bulimia, when women eat a huge meal and go somewhere in private to purge all the food.

The US didn't really invent these diseases, but we sure have enough cases to report.

Ours is a nation of excesses. There is so much of a desire for perfection that these diseases thrive in the US.

So with all this talk of overweight Americans we can't dismiss anorexia and bulimia.

I don't see examples of this at work because these diseases primarily affect younger women.

[Turboguy]

That was a good post son of Clyde but actually the USA did not invent Bulimia.   The ancient Romans did.   Many even had special rooms called vomitoriums. 

I think Anorexics can be anywhere.   I worry about that a lot with my finacee.   She seems like she could have a problem with it.  

[jb]

Donna

I make my own kefir and curds (I have alive kefir fungus that I can share if Etna needs).

Etna has jars of this kefir fungus stored in the freezer, she also makes her own curds, (cottage cheese) from this stuff.  Thanks anyway.

She also grows her own tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers in the garden plot in the back yard, however she has found the Russian seeds produce a vine that does not bear fruit well in the Texas summers, a better vine is the T-22 and T-34, developed at Texas A&M especially suited for our hotter summers.  One vine has produced over 30 pounds of fruit so far this season.  I'm in the process of uprooting the garden, we can't move it to the new house...

Moving day is less than two weeks away.

[jb]

Donna,

A further thought on food stores....

It's been two years since I was last in Moscow, our airfare budget is pretty much expended by the boy now as he travels to and back, staying street legal with the BCIS and getting his University degree.  Dima travels R/T to the USA about three times a year now.  So I don't have recent hands on experience with Moscow supermarkets.  I'll take your word on it.

There is/was a SPAR market (a very nice one at that), a block from the Moscow flat, next to it is a common market where the farmers sell their goods and produce.  Since we didn't maintain a car in Moscow, we don't shop at these hyper markets you mention, we walked to and back, just like we always did. Everyday....

Other than the typical Russian items, (I can't buy fresh caviar at the local store here) our supermarket here in Corpus Christi carries everything, and a lot more, than the SPAR market in Moscow, and it's generally fresher and of better quality.  Regarding bread; we make our own fresh bread at home.  We have a bread making machine, we throw in the ingredients and two hours or so later, there's fresh bread.  Etna calls the packaged bread from the supermarket, "air bread", there's nothing but air in it.

[Elen]

I prefer to buy vegetables at open markets - more fresh than in supermarkets and much more cheap. And I never buy food in the centre of Moscow The prices are always over overblown and fresh are always under doubt:X

[jb]

I wouldn't buy "foot" there either.

[Elen]

:Doops I meant food

PS I live at South-West of Moscow not far from that ASHAN Donna told about. It's really huge mega mall (Included other 6 supermarkets - all about size like ASHAN) So I'm sure no one super market in the USA would be able to "impress" me:P

 

[jb]

I'm sure there is very little about the USA that you would be impressed with, I suggest you stay right there in Russia.  Since you already have the best of everything, there is absolutely no reason for you to consider leaving.

In fact, I'm pretty sure most of this board would prefer you stay there.

[Bruce]

Elen - "So I'm sure no one super market in the USA would be able to "impress" me:P"

Spoken like a person who has never been there........................................

Believe me - I have been to both places.  If you want to see big, grand, lavish (and very overpriced) just come to NYC.  The world just can not beat the USA for food.  I'll be the first to tell you where Russia, or anyplace else I have been to in the world I've seen better in over all food quality, quantity etc. I just have never seen any place in the world match the USA. 

Now, when it comes to strawberries - the favorite ones I have ever eaten were in the South of Russia (Sochi region).  I am sure there are a few other food products, like caviar, that just are my personnal best in Russia.  However, when you are talking over all quantity and quality of almost every food product the USA is the best.

I appreciate your advice / comments etc. when they are pertinent ie. to situations in Russia.  Your advice on taxi prices from SVOI to SVOII etc. was just great!  I agree Russia, and especially Moscow really has much improved, probably world class super markets etc.  - but I'll be the first to tell you what we are great at and what we are improving, and food is justifiably near the bottom of the list. 

[Elen]

Indeed

Таити, Таити... не были мы ни на какой таити Нас и тут неплохо кормят:P
I recommend you to watch this movie

http://www.sharereactor.ru/cgi-bin/mzinfo.cgi?id=2667

Also I wish you all to find here wives who would be impressed with supermarkets in

that Paradise of yours enough for to decide that they can compensate all your personal "values". ( it's hard to do in a case with me)

 

Spoken like a person who has never been there........................................[/b][/color]

You see I'm  not that person who could be  impressed with such things like supermarkets IN PRINCIPAL ( PS Besides I'm not Alf I have only one stomach:P)

[Bruce]

[Elen]

However, when you are talking over all quantity and quality of almost every food product the USA is the best.

 Name me please what are those products you eat every so often which as you 're sure are the best in tje USA Just curiouse 

[Bruce]

Today for instance:

Star bucks coffee 1/2 house blend decaf + 1/2 sumatra regular; buckwheat honey + fresh skim milk.

Red Peppers, broccoli, red onions, carrots, tomatoes w/ olive oil (Costco) plus red wine vinegar (stop & shop); cottage cheese, black eyed peas.

Green apple, Anjou pear, peach

Fat free organic yogurt (Stonyfield farms) - lemon flavor.

Pre-dinner will be a bowl of fresh salmon soup (Russian style).  Dinner will be ground turkey mixed with Sclafani crushed tomatoes and tomato paste plus kasha grishka and green peas.

After dinner snack nuts and raisins (really large black and small golden) plus a yogurt or two more for a snack.  Perhaps a piece of Russian black bread (I happen to love this and it is really good and from the Russian bakery in Brighton - always better than my wife's "small" city according to her with some Russisky cheese.

 

Very often I eat chicken, fish or turkey for dinner.  Sometimes I have a nice steak.  Sometimes we substitute ham and provolone cheese or turkey and swiss or provolone cheese sandwitches when my wife does not feel like cooking / we are in the mood for "better than subway!" 

Are you getting hungry yet?

[jb]

Bruce,

If she isn't, I am.....

Besides, you are asking this question to someone who probably eats Kasha 6-10 times a week.

Any and all comments about food shopping in Moscow are not applicable here, and certainly not comparable to shopping in the USA.  I've lived in Moscow, I know how most Moscovites live and eat.  Compared to the average American, they eat very poor, day to day.

[Elen]

Star bucks coffee - well agree very often coffee here is like slops

buckwheat honey  - Welcome to Russian honey trade fair in Moscow And we will see which honey is better:P

Red Peppers - my vote is for Bulgaria

brocolli - not big deal Frozzen brokkoli from Poland we have here is fine enough

red onions - don't know what you mean but red onions from Crym are the best

olive oil (Costco) - I'm sure the USA is not a Motherland of this product for you would be sure you have the best oil in the world

 red wine vinegar (stop & shop) - can say nothing as we didn't use to add vinegar into salads

cottage cheese - doubt very hard you have the best Our friends from Georgia and other FSU Republics do it very fine:D

black eyed peas - can't translate

Green apple - what such special in those "glossy" apples full with chemestry;) ( My favorite apple are "corichnoe" - the smell is just are fantastic ( but they can't sell them in markets as it's not "industry" sort - too "soft" for transportation.) Those "import" apples they sell in super markets have no smell at all. And we do have two apple trees with "antonovka" at our dacha - much more than enough for our family

Anjou pear, peach - Just wonder why can't you addmit these fruits grow here too and why do you think yours ones are the best?

Fat free organic yogurt (Stonyfield farms) - lemon flavor.  Don't tell Russians there is something better in "milk" products somewhere. You just have a slight idea what we can produce from a milk:D


Pre-dinner will be a bowl of fresh salmon soup (Russian style).  Dinner will be ground turkey mixed with Sclafani crushed tomatoes and tomato paste plus kasha grishka and green peas. - ALL that we have here and you can't prove me yours ones are better. ( though I don't like turkey and I don't eat grechka after salmon soup)


After dinner:shock:snack nuts and raisins (really large black and small golden) plus a yogurt or two more for a snack...... - Well boy:? now here is a question - how fat are you?


Well all after all you show me nothing which I'd not have here:P

Besides, you are asking this question to someone who probably eats Kasha 6-10 times a week.

Nope I only feed my husband with it  And yes he does eat kasha (porridge) every morning. So it would be 7 times per week. And there nothing wrong with that coz it's very healthy. 


 

[Elen]

I know how most Moscovites live and eat

 

Well would not mind to post a menu for "most Muskovites" for I would know what we eat there as well:D

[Donna_Pedro]

jb

We did not go to hyper-markets often too, I used to walk to my local stores and a farm market. Here I have to drive to a super market if I need something more complicated then a bottle of Coke or a gallon on milk. So basically I am comparing a  local US supermarket to my local Russian convinience store...:cool: which is fine.  I have  pictures of my local convinience store I made for Mr.Pedro back when we dated to show him that I was not starving... :cool: I will scan then and post them.  He came to  visit me in Russia with a piece of sublimated beef in his suitcase. I am still making fun of him for that. :cool: Our small local store carries everything, just did not have 20 brands of juice hyper-market would carry, but only 2-3.

Let me try to analyze "this" -

Diary

I can not drink fresh milk, but I loved the viriety of milk-based products, like baked milk and baked sour milk (riajenka) and different cottage cheeses that I used to eat in Russia often. My son is missing fruit milk and sweet curds. I used to drink riajenka in the evening as a type of light dinner/supper.

Meat and Poltry

Pretty much the same. I miss beef tongue though. The closest place to us you can by it here is in Atlanta, which is 5 hours away.

Fish

Never liked fish. Started eating oysters here to my own surprise. Miss salted salmon and other salted fish. The smoked one they sell here is not the same. I used to buy salmon (red) caviar often, at least one 95g   can a week, sometimes more, or substituted it with salted  salmon,   and had black caviar every now and then (when managed to find a deal on the price). Thats the breakfast  we used to have - either dairy products (curds)  or  salted salmon (or caviar) sandwiches and tea (coffee etc) . I dont have it here. I have  to eat cereal to substitute for these products in the morning.

Bread

local bread sucks.

 Fruits and vegetables

We consume the same amount. And the same variety. Banans, apples - all year round, the rest is by season - strawberries, apricots, peaches etc - in summer, citruses - in winter. Vegetables... the same amounts and variety, i just  dont like  the taste, or better say  - the lack of it. You can buy stawberries in Moscow in January, but they are expensive, so we rarely bought them. The same here.  I just dont like their quality. Starwberries have no fragrance, they are hard and taste like potatoes.  Melons do not have  fragrance... Water melons never get dirt cheap as they are in August-September in Moscow.

Honey sucks. We are going through 2-3 liters of fresh Far-East honey my ex- sends from Moscow.

Dry fruits -  seem to be more expensive. We eat less of them here.

Icecream

I need a lock on the freezer. Icecream is good here and indeed I have not eaten it as much  in russia as I do here, but then again, you do not want icecream when its -25  degrees outside.

Tea

I bring from Russia. I have 1 kg of my favourite tea already waiting  to be picked up by my  son in Moscow.  He goes this coming Sunday and I am worried out of my mind.

Drinks

No selection of mineral waters, just Perrie.  Borjomi and Yessentuki were constatntly present on our tables in Moscow. They are very good for digestion.  I drink  fresh water now. My son drinks Dr. Pepper.

Juices - the same selection. We are not big on them.

If you compare russian hypermarket to Walmart - the selection is way better, only because in US supermarkets they dont offer a lot of european products (there is a small "international food"  department in each of them), while Russia offers a big selection of russian food, food from FSU countries ( a lot from Baltic states)  and also from Europe - Finland, Poland etc.  

 

 

[jb]

Donna,

Yeah, bread sold in the supermarket here sucks,,,big time.

Caviar is a personal taste issue, I prefer the salmon roe over the black sturgeon egg.  Besides, it's more affordable. In Moscow I was paying about $15.00 for 400g of fresh red caviar during my last visit, I'm sure those prices have risen since.

American red caviar is a bit pricier, $30.00 for 400g, and it's not as fresh. But it is still very good by anyone's standards. You can get it here:
http://www.911caviar.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=american_salmon_caviar
The same company also sells the other caviars.  There's an import speciality food store in Houston where you can buy canned (tinned) caviar, but mostly it comes from Korea and is not worth the effort.  Whitefish roe is terrible, and Wasabi Caviar is not caviar to my taste. Caviar from the Montana Paddlefish and American sturgeon is in very close in taste and texture to Russian Beluga.

My experience with most of the Americans here is that they shy away from caviar in any form, yet they will happily eat tripe soup, calf brains, and tacos made from sweetbreads, cabeza meat and lingua without batting an eye.  Am I the only person who thinks that's strange?

[Bruce]

I prefer the salmon roe over the black sturgeon egg myself. 

Elen / Donna - of course there are many excellent foods in Russia.  My point is that no place in the World but the USA that I have seen has the quality and availability of the full gamut of foods.  By the way, if it were up to my wife - half of our luggage would be weighed down with allowable food items we could bring into Russia. 

[jb]

Well all after all you show me nothing which I'd not have here:P

The one thing Bruce didn't mention is beef.  Russian beef sucks.  Not only does the meat not taste good, Russian butchers and meat cutters haven't a clue about how to properly slice the carcass up.  Meat markets in Russia sell beef by weight only.  You want beef? "Gimme 500g please", and you get a chunk of meat,,, period.  Probably cut from a 30 year old dariy cow who died of old age.  Here you have the selection of what part of the cow you want, i.e., shoulder, brisket, rib, loin, rump, etc. And you can be assured the meat was not cut against the grain so your meat will cook properly without the flavor and juices escaping and leaving you with something with the consistancy of shoe leather.

American USDA Prime beef is, IMHO, the best mass produced meat in the world.

[Son of Clyde]

 

Where's The Beef?

[anono]

jb, once i tried to show a ukrainian lady what a hamburger is. we bought some ground "beef" and the resulting crap once it was cooked had to be thrown away.

the beef here (i am posting from ukraine) sucks. no matter what elen or the other know it alls say, the selection and quality of food in the usa, depending on where you look, is unsurpassed, even in moscow!

the usa has the ability and means to import food from anywhere in the world, if we do not have it ourselves...

[jb]

the selection and quality of food in the usa, depending on where you look, is unsurpassed, even in moscow!

LOL, maybe that's why so many Americans are over weight,,, the food here actually tastes good.