A Vegan Guide To Russia
Hi, I just got back from my trip to Russia and learnt a lot about how to eat there as a vegan. The last time I visited this country I basically lived off pizza Margherita without mozzarella and grilled vegetables. Never again. But I learned much since then and this time I was much better prepared, so I thought I’d share my experiences with you. Hopefully it’s useful to somebody. If it’s helpful for only one person I’m already happy.
First of all, learn the alphabet. Many words are the same in Russian and English. Like pizza or soup. It makes ordering at a restaurant a lot easier because many of them don’t have an English menu. And some words sound familiar, so it’s easy to guess what it could be. If you’ve got the time I’d recommend learning the Cyrillic script. It’s also quite fun to walk through the cities and being able to read all the signs and posters.
There are some words which are important to know. I make a little list, but you can also download the dictionary from Google Translator if you don’t want to use mobile data.
Meat мя́со (mjassa)
Butter масло (masla) Watch out! Oil is also called масло.
Egg яйцо́ (jejzo)
Honey мёд (mjod)
Cheese сыр (sir)
Fish ры́ба (reba)
It’s really helpful if you know how to pronounce the words, but often the people in restaurants don’t even try to understand what you’re saying if you’ve got a heavy accent. I’m not even mad, I guess I sound pretty weird to them even after 2 years of taking Russian lessons. So better screenshot the words to remember them when you’re in a market or show them in a restaurant. Another important word is без (bes). It means “without”. I often used it in restaurants to order something but without the non-vegan ingredient or topping. Another useful word is веганский (veganskij), which means vegan.
We ate a lot of Asian food, these restaurants often had a nice variety of vegetarian and vegan food. The app “Happy Cow” will be your best friend if you fancy something else than Asian or fast food. We started our journey in Moscow. The Café Cok is pretty amazing. They serve vegetarian and vegan food and it’s all identified in the card. They even have some raw vegan cake. Another awesome Café is Café Avocado. They serve vegetarian and vegan meals as well. If you fancy some wok I recommend Sushi Wok. It’s a fast food chain where you can get sushi (the vegetarian ones are marked in the menu) or just mix a wok. You will have to translate a lot but it’s worth it. We found this chain in various cities, it was a backup restaurant for me if I didn’t find something else or when I fancied a wok. We travelled further, stopped in Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude and Khabarovsk. We mostly ate in the restaurants Happy Cow suggested. If you ever visit Novosibirsk I really recommend Veggie Pit, it’s a cute little booth in the middle of Central Park. They sell vegan street food. Our last station was Vladivostok, where we ate at Life Café. It’s quite hard to find but if you like raw vegan food it’s worth a shot. And big food chains like Subway or Starbucks (they have plant based milk there as well, of course) you’ll find everywhere, so you’ll always have a backup plan.
My last tip is to know which things in your local super market are vegan. They have products from bigger companies, so maybe have a look at home and memorise some products you could grab in Russia. I know, some vegans despise companies like Nestlé, but if you don’t you can be sure to find the same products in Russia like everywhere else, which can be quite calming to know.
When I became a vegan I was very anxious about travelling. But I don’t want to miss out on anything and I’m doing great. Having a plan before leaving calms me down so I wanted to share mine with you. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
Приятного аппетита!
