An American Tries Russian Food

Two weeks ago in my adult intermediate English class I showed the Buzzfeed video "Americans Try Bizarre Russian Foods for the First Time." After the video they asked me if I had tried any of the foods because they wanted to know what I thought about it. I told them that I had actually never tried any of the food in the video. I have eaten Russian foods like borscht, blini and solyanka but that's about. One woman told me that she and her sister wanted to take me to try the foods. On Friday, after class, they took me to Ёлки-Палки (Yolki-Palki) so I could sample Russian food.

I've never been a picky person when it comes to food. There are three things I will not eat: milk, bacon, and raisins. I can have milk and bacon if they are in things, but I can't eat them alone, especially milk. Raisins are the one thing I will not eat, but I love craisins. Makes sense. So, I guess it isn't a huge feat for me to try these Russian foods since I am so open to trying new things.

The first dish is just herring with potatoes and onions. If you like fish you will like it. I love fish and seafood, so I thought it was pretty tasty.The second dish is Сало (Salo). This is basically just animal fat. It didn't taste bad it was just really hard to chew. I need jaw surgery to align my jaw correctly, so for me it was even harder to tear the food. I didn't feel so bad though because Zilya couldn't even cut through it with a knife. I was most intrigued to try this next dish. It was actually the first one I tried of the night. It is called Холодец (Kholodets) and it is jellied meat. Yes, jellied meat. In the video everyone thought that this was the most disgusting dish because of the texture. I was so nervous to try it, but I just went for it and to be honest it was actually good. They give you a SUPER hot mustard to put on it that makes your nose feel like it's on fire if you add too much, but I would recommend it.

The last one I tried was сельдь под шубой (sel'd' pod shuboy) also known as Dressed Herring or Herring Under a Fur Coat. It is a layered salad with diced salted herring covered with beets, chopped onions, and mayonnaise. This was actually my favorite dish. It sounds unappetizing, and most people who aren't Russian probably think it's disgusting, but I couldn't stop eating it. I'm pretty sure I could have eaten five plates of it.

They told me that they want to take me to other restaurants to try more national food. You get to look forward to more food posts. Now tell me, have you tried any of these dishes before? Would you try any of them?