The Russian Food Blog

Many of you have probably noticed by now that this is a Russian food blog. But it never hurts to state the obvious once in a while. And to drive my point home, I just bought russianfoodblog.com (note to Google: it spells Russian food blog).

So from now on, and until I get tired of spending my money on not-quite-random-yet-not-quite-necessary domain names, you can access all the contents of this blog using russianfoodblog.com. Like my About page: russianfoodblog.com/about/. Or my reviews of Russian restaurants: russianfoodblog.com/category/restaurants/russian-cuisine/.

Let’s go through the recent posts that truly make this blog a Russian food blog, the Russian food blog, the blog of the Russian food…

This is a Georgian Food Blog

A few month ago, I was announcing that this is a Russian food blog — and it worked. But, as you’ve certainly noticed by now, this is more than that. For example, this is also a Georgian food blog. The Georgia we’re talking about here is the Republic of Georgia of course, in the Caucasus; and I dedicated many posts to its food, its dishes, its cooking and its cuisine.

Seriously, Google, look at the top results when one queries “Georgian food blog”! The first one is an excellent blog that I encourage everyone to read (it’s in my blogroll), but it’s essentially about Estonian cuisine. The third one consists of 50 or so Georgian recipes, all posted in December 2007 (five years ago); it’s interesting, but it’s not exactly a blog. Which brings us to the second one, a single picture from the aforementioned recipes, re-posted on some other site; this certainly wins the Palme d’Or for lamest search result.  And so on…

This Is A Russian Food Blog

Only today did I realize that if you google “russian food blog”, Food Perestroika doesn’t appear in the first 10 pages (I didn’t look beyond that). Moreover, all of the blogs on the first result page, though sometimes quite interesting, only post a handful of articles a year, when they haven’t stopped all together. Don’t I deserve my 15 minutes of fame, too?

Sure, neither my blog title nor my tagline explicitly use the words “Russian”, “food” or “blog”. It’s also true that this is not only a Russian food blog, in that I write many posts that talk about other topics (such as food-serving establishments and travel) and other countries (such as Hungary, Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, all of which are only so far from Russia). I guess I’m being too subtle for the world’s foremost search engine, and I apologize.

So Mr Google, please take note. I’m going to spell it out for you: this is a Russian food blog.

It is a blog that talks about Russian food. A food blog, with an emphasis on Russia. A blog with posts on Russia and food, or if you prefer, on food and Russia. A blog that looks at Russia through the prism of food. Russian food, aka the food of the Russia, is discussed here, using blogging as a medium. Russian. Food. Blog.

And if this is not enough, here are some posts to convince you:

• Blini and Oladi, Russian Pancakes
• Salad Olivier
• Kurnik, Russian Chicken Pot Pie
• Salmon Coulibiac
• Sturgeon Astrakhan
• Tvorog, Russian Fromage Blanc
• Baked Paskha
• Apple, Vodka and Birch Syrup Babka with Cranberry Mors Sorbet
• Mors, Russian Berry Cocktail

Happy 1st Anniversary, Food Perestroika!

It’s been exactly one year since my first recipe (Tvorog, Russian Fromage Blanc), and I’m now writing my 108th entry! I thought I’d use the occasion to review Food Perestroika’s most and least popular posts.

Among the most popular posts, the Vladimir Poutine has been an overwhelming success from day one. And what’s not to love about this combination of a bad punning, bear meat, the best French fries, and a Man of Action?

Next in the rankings come a number of Russian, Ukrainian and Georgian classics: Blini and Oladi, Russian Pancakes, Tarkhun, Tarragon Soda, Achma, Georgian Cheese Lasagna, Deruny, Ukrainian Potato Pancakes and Mors, Russian Berry Cocktail. These takes on traditional recipes are clearly in high demand and I’ll try to post more of them next year.

Then there’s the inexplicable popularity of my review of Chinar on the Island: sure, it’s a good restaurant, but I would have never guessed that so many people would be looking it up.

Let’s jump to the bottom of list now. Oddly enough, Karczma, a restaurant that is almost as good as and far easier to reach than Chinar on the Island, was completely ignored.

Among the overlooked recipes, I concede that the Golden Beet Tartlets and the Brussels Sprout Gratin aren’t particularly distinctive.

And the Almond, Raisin and Chocolate Yule Log, though delicious, suffered from a timing problem — make sure you keep it in mind for next Christmas!

The Pork Brains Telavi must have scared off most readers. In fact, many of my toponymic recipes (Sturgeon Astrakhan, Lamb Shanks Ufa…) never really got their 15 minutes of fame.

But what went wrong with the Crimean Fishcakes with Mussel Sabayon and Tomato Compote, the Crab and Buckwheat Stuffed Veal Chop or the Wild Boar Bouchées? These are great dishes, check them out!

Now that I’ve been through a whole year of blogging, I will regularly present collections of past entries for seasonal recipes. With the game season just starting, maybe those Wild Boar Bouchées will finally take off…