Russian food: unique experiences in Saint Petersburg
With no doubt, tasting traditional food of the city you are visiting is one of the most exciting experience to make. Hence, if you are now in Saint Petersburg, you would better not miss the chance to “eat like a Russian”, enjoying different type of meat, fish and fresh seasonal vegetables. Lucky for you, you can join several events to taste Russian food and also to cook by yourself the main dishes of Russian cuisine. Here you are some of them:
Market tour with local food tasting
This event will help you discover the Russian traditional specialities that could be found in a market. The guide will take you at one of the most ancient food markets of 18-19th century, while explaining to you some interesting facts about Russian food. Once at the market, you will have the chance to taste farmer products from all over Russia:
- Farmer tvorog (similar to cottage cheese) and cheese
- Delicious pickles: tomatoes, cucumbers, sauercraut, wild leek and garlic – these all were favorite delicacies of Tsars and Tsarinas
- Fish and caviar
- Fresh and dried season fruits and vegetables that were grown at the warmest region of Russia – Caucasus
- Fresh honey: you will also found out how to distinguish one from another not only by colour but also by taste
After the market tour, you will reach a secret place to taste the most famous “Leningrad” desert, and after that you will eat another traditional dish: Siberian Pelmeni (Russian meat dumplings) and Vareniki (Russian fruit dumplings).
For those who want to try their hand at preparing some typical Russian staple dishes, this event is for you:
Russian cuisine Cooking Class
Kristina and her mother Ludmila will teach you how to prepare some of the most popular Russian dishes, after introducing to you Russian culture and cuisine. You will get the chance to cook with them, while sharing with other guests the traditional Russian “закуски” (some kind of appetizer). If you love wine, this is the right occasion to enjoy it during the dinner.
The menu includes:
- Hangover Shchi soup (with sauerkraut)
- Pelmeni (Russian dumplings)
- Many Appetizers
- Traditional tea ceremony with dessert
If you are struggling with Russian, do not worry! An English speaking chef will guide you in a spacious and fully equipped cooking studio.
And last but not least, if you love drinking beer and you are not afraid of heights, I suggest you take part in this breathtaking experience.
Drinking beer on the roofs of Saint Petersburg
Walking on the roofs of this beautiful city is one of the most amazing experience you can ever make, and what is better than admiring Saint Petersburg from one of its roofs with a glass of beer in your hand? If you want to drink a mug of beer while enjoining on the roof the gorgeous view of the historic center of the city, there are several events for you! For instance, there is a bar in the heart of the city, that is called “Фарш & Бочка”, which will welcome you with a beer while the bartenders will talk about local breweries offering to you a tasting of different types of beer. After that, you can eat some burgers especially prepared for you. Now comes the funniest part: you will have a picnic with burgers and beer right on one of the roofs of Saint Petersburg!
You can have further details about the experiences I previously mentioned checking on “Airbnb” website.
As you can notice, if you though that Russian cuisine was just about “caviar”, you were wrong. Russian food is distinctive and unique and its main features are the abundance and the variety of products used for cooking. Even though “simplicity” is the key word to recognise Russian dishes, they certainly do not lack in taste!
I hope that this article piqued your interest, or at least, gave you some more information about Russian traditional food you can see everyday walking through the streets of the city.
If you want to know some more details about Russian food, go check this link on our blog.
