moscow vegetarian

lots of people mock London's food, i think unfairly. true, english food is disgusting, but there is so much choice that it is easy to avoid. You could probably try a different kind of cuisine every night for a month in London with out ever repeating yourself. yet, unfairly, the city still often comes second to other European capitals (Paris, Rome) when food gets brought up. I have been to many great restaurants in Rome, but i find that cities with good national cuisine tend to suffer from a lack of variety. try getting a good korean meal in Rome, or Eritrean dinner in Lisbon- good luck.

But alongside London, another city that often gets a bad culinary wrap is Moscow, which i find equally unfair and outdated. Sure, choice in 1995 was limited, but that is no longer the case. Furthermore, in a traditional country where you can probably count the vegetarians on one hand (ok i might be exaggerating- but only slightly), you can get an increasingly decent vegetarian selection, something that is seemingly near impossible in Madrid.

I found myself spending much of the past week in Moscow, by myself on business. I had lots of reports to write up and conference calls with out London office that i had to dial into rather late. So whist i did go out to treat myself to my favourite Georgian and Sushi favourites a few times, several times I simply ordered into my room, but even then i had exactly what i wanted, made exactly to my specifications- an it was delicious. my mother hated the Soviet Union for a number of (obvious) reasons, but one of her chief gripes was the lack of "salad," it bothered her immensely that even when something called "salad" could be located, it normally consisted of peas, potatoes and mayonnaise, without lettuce ever making an appearance. so I took the picture here of a Moscow salad for her- no lettuce shortages these days.