Before leaving home, I got warned by several people that Russia is not the most vegan-friendly country to travel in. It’s funny how people who are not even vegan and have probably never been to Russia become experts on unknown territory.
I must admit that I was happily surprised about the veggie situation in this gigantic country.
I have committed to not paying for any sleep, so CouchSurfing is just the perfect deal for me. It is the cheapest accommodation and also allows you to have good contact with locals and their routines.
Since I do not speak the language, and therefore cannot read any labels, I carefully selected my hosts as follows: I simply searched for a host filtered by the keyword “vegan”. This way the search was immediately narrowed down to like-minded people who will be delighted to share their day-to-day vegan lifestyle with you.
My first stop was Moscow and here I stayed with a young vegan drummer named Anna. She took me to the supermarket and explained that Russian organic shops are an unnecessary luxury.
Good news: the veggies are real! They are ugly, very tasteful and come straight from the countryside. Sounds like heaven, right? And I hadn’t even seen any meat soup thrown at my head yet. Unbelievable!
Bigger supermarkets, in addition to their large selections, have counters with freshly made salads which are delicious and pretty cheap too. I frequently filled up some containers with divine combinations for only 1,50 Euro. The price-quality of the food made it taste even better.
Surfing couches means you get access to a whole kitchen, so you can easily cook as you do at home.
Basically, Russia is a children’s game for vegans. In the supermarket, without a guide, it is important to keep your eyes open and look very carefully at the pictures on the jarred food. Back home I would read any label in order to avoid having dangerous E-numbers spoiling the goodness of nature in my dishes. Unfortunately, I had no knowledge of Russian language at all, so sometimes I needed to buy stuff in the dark.
CouchSurfing with vegans has been a great help for getting started with my travels throughout this country. In case of doubt I sent pictures of the labels to Russian friends, so they could translate the ingredients. You’ve got to love technology sometimes.
I started out using my vegan passport, but soon it was clear that a lot of people couldn’t read – or just pretended they were reading.
In restaurants you can always make a combo with side dishes; assisted by your vegan passport and a Russian sentence of what you cannot have, you will be surprised by the quality of food you will get for less than 5 Euro.
I would recommend learning the words “yaytso” (egg), “syr” (cheese), “maslo” (butter) and “vegetarianets” before departing. That way you can order food saying: “vegetarianski? Net yaytso, syr, maslo – allergiya”. Lying about having an allergy for those ingredients can help to ensure they do not secretly try to feed it to you anyway ;).
Western Russia was very easy as a vegan traveler, but the more I headed East, the more difficult it got. West of Lake Baikal it’s all about the fish, and in the East you will feel you are getting closer to Mongolia.
I recommend stocking up on food (which I did not do) before traveling around Baikal. I ended up eating mostly bread with oil, pepper and salt, and salads with cucumber and tomato.
In Ulan Ude (East-side) you will see that the choices become more limited than before. This city is directly connected to the capital of Mongolia, which means lots of counters filled with meat and cheese instead of the fresh salads like in the West.
Russian winters are hardcore, so there is only a small supply of fruits and vegetables. The small selection in the supermarket will be poor and pretty expensive. Traveling low budget has forced me to get frozen vegetables and processed jarred food, which I spiced up with fresh parsley or dill to get my greens (never ever let go of your greens).
The longer I traveled, the more organized I got, and the more I understood how to travel in Russia without starving to death. Out of uncertainty I ‘Happy Cow-ed’ my way through the listed vegan restaurants and added some discoveries myself as well, but for long-term vegan travel this can get very expensive.
Even though I am convinced that a good vegan dish prepared by others is a treat you should give yourself once in a while, I got more and more confident on what to get in the supermarkets and cook for myself. Especially when I hit the countryside.
I had enough of meaningless buildings and noisy cars, so I traded the city for woods and mountains.
For the past month I’ve been living on a Siberian farm called Red Bench, which I found via Workaway. It’s been very easy to live a vegan lifestyle here, although my diet has consisted mostly of cabbage and potato. In addition to this, I have been taking some supplements to compensate for the lack of greens in my diet.
In the mountains of Altai there are little shops, but the selection is very poor and pretty expensive. It’s better to stock up on your favourite Russian delights in this case as well.
With my food containers filled with joy, I am ready for the next challenge. I enjoy difficult things, so packed with rice, buckwheat, pasta, jarred food and spices I am crossing the border to Mongolia–the land of meat and cheese.
About the author: I am Marie, a simple farmer’s daughter without a plan. In October 2015 I decided to leave everything behind, sell my furniture and reduce my belongings so they could fit in a backpack. I’m determined to realize my dreams and travel the world. Follow me on www.facebook.com/belgianturtle
Image source: Interesting Things
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