Was talking with an old guy last week.  He told me he survived 38 bombing runs in Hanover."  I asked,"Were you in the 8th Air Force?"  "No," he replied, "I was too young and I was on the ground when they bombed us."  Opps, wrong side.  Anyway, I asked him about the economy after the war and he told me, "Everything was barter.  People traded anything and everything for food.  Jewelry, furniture, clothes, anything.  If you had nothing to trade, you didn't eat."  That probably explains his bear proof garden.  He's not sharing the fruits of his harvest with Yogi.

As a child he remembered the wallpaper in his apartment - million mark notes.  He also told me about the local Nazi Gauleiter who forced 12 year old boys to fight the tanks.  Two boys were killed when the foxhole they were in collapsed under the weight of the tank.  Post war the angry farmers whose sons were forced by the Gauleiter to fight captured the Gauleiter and after digging a hole, buried him alive in horse manure.

That would be a difference from other countries where everyone has a car I suppose. I talked with someone from former East Germany a while ago. She said that they had a waiting period to buy cars back then, almost 10 years until you could buy one she said! Its clear to see that in those days in east Germany, having a car was a special kind of luxury only for a lucky few.

Did you ever consider moving to the dacha? If crime wasnt as bad over there and you had more room, could work on your garden, why live in an apartment at all?
FerFAL

Moving to the dacha was out of the question. First of all there was no electricity from late September through about mid- May, simply because no one was living there. The main access gate was closed as well. There was no heat source, nor enough insulation to survive brutal winters. The closest school was in a nearby village and the education quality was not even half as good as in the city. Last but not least, it was illegal not to work unless a person was under 18,  disabled, retired or attending a school full time.  Getting to and from work and school would be problematic, especially in winter time.
Also, a small garden that we had, was a good supplemental source of food and fresh produce but it was not enough to sustain a family. We had to go to a store for meat, bread and other things we could not produce at the dacha.

Safety would also be a concern in winter time because no one was living there. Winter break-ins were common during winter time at the dachas. Break-ins were done by homeless or rogue drunks from a nearby village. They were looking for something to steal. Some dachas were burnt to ground by them. My mom always left a bottle of cheap vodka and  note asking not to damage anything and to have a drink as a reward. Surprisingly it seemed to work. This is why we removed all valuables for the winter and only used a small cheap lock on the door that was easy to break. Multiple heavy locks were an indicator that there may be some valuables inside. Thieves would break through windows or even walls to get inside the dachas with heavy duty doors and multiple locks. All we had to do was to replace the lock and fix a minor damage to a door.

Nowadays, many rich Russians build houses in the suburbs, with all conveniences and infrastructure nearby. All houses are built from bricks and concrete panels, with a heavy foundation. An American style house, build from 2x4" "toothpicks", would be considered unacceptable. Pine wood is also considered unacceptable for anything in the house. They use hardwood only. Most houses have tall, heavy duty fences that can't be breached with a vehicle. Safety and security is still taken very seriously.

Yes, having a garden was a blessing during the tough times.
You know, I have done a lot of thinking when I bought my current house. I did not want to be in the city for obvious reasons but I also did not want to be too isolated from people either. In my opinion, it's best to be within a relatively short drive from a city.
Having a good, reliable vehicle and skills to repair it is very important here in the US. I mentioned this in one of my previous posts.

A few years ago, I read a story about remote farmhouses in South Africa (maybe it was in Argentina) that were favored by criminals because they could always find lots of food stored in a cellar and the properties were too isolated to be concerned about making too much noise. Criminals would break-in and torture families for weeks while eating their food reserves, then packing all valuables in the stolen vehicle and burning the house with the family in it.
Too much isolation can be dangerous, unless you have a large group of like-minded people who are trained and ready to defend the place. Most of the time, safety is in numbers.

Every society has some good points.  Proverbs 16:27-29 "Idle hands are the devil’s workshop"

I should have mentioned that in the Soviet Union, everyone was guaranteed a job based on their education and abilities. Those who refused to work were forced to learn a trade skill or even imprisoned (in extreme cases). Mothers were given a 6 month paid leave prior to birth and 2 years paid maternity leave after birth.
Most jobs did not pay a whole a lot but not many people were concerned about loosing a job and not being able to "make it through tomorrow". This was before the collapse, of course.
Oh, one more important thing to mention. We could purchase alcohol and tobacco at the age of 16 but could only get a driver's license for a car at the age of 18 (16 for motorcycle license). LOL.

Every male was obligated to serve in the military upon reaching their 18-th birthday. People used to say that if you have not served, you are not a real man. LOL. I used to loose a lot of sleep, worrying about being drafted and sent to Afghanistan. They simply loaded all freshly drafted boys into a train and a week later they were told that they just arrived to Afghanistan to fulfill their "honorable international responsibility", whatever the heck it was.
What a mess. I could talk about it for hours. One of my friends was there. Half of hair on his head turned white-gray because of the stress he had to endure while fighting there. He saw his friends burned alive and was lucky to make it back home. Many guys returned in coffins. The year before I reached 18, six guys from our apartment building were sent back home in sealed coffins, from Afghanistan. I did not want to die for some f*cked up cause in another country fighting a war that should have not been started in the first place. It was not a popular war with many lives lost for a stupid cause that was determined by the commies in the government.
Fortunately, right before I turned 18, Gorbachev signed a new law that allowed university students to enroll into a military school at the university and serve in the military after the graduation.

Education was free but many universities were hard to get into. It was normal to have 4 to 6 applicants for one student position available. Some universities had more than 10:1 ratio. Eligibility was strictly determined based on entrance exam scores. When I was applying to study electrical engineering at a local university (~10,000 students), I also had to pass a physical fitness test which included a basic fitness test (gymnastics plus a 2 mile run) and a swimming test. I had to swim 100 yards within a predetermined time range and it was not easy. I used to be an excellent swimmer but only hit the mid-mark of the time range, with a passing grade. The entrance test also included Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, Physics, Organic Chemistry and Literature. I did ok on all exams but almost failed Literature and scored lower than expected on my Chemistry exam. Fortunately it was enough to get a passing score.
Having a "high degree" or what's called here - a college degree, was a must to gain any decent job back in the Soviet times. Unfortunately or should I say - fortunately, the collapse happened and everything turned "upside down".

Ok, I'm steering way off topic again. I hope this helps to understand what was going on during those turbulent times.
Gyprat out.

All posts have been great.  The "off the path" stuff helps fill in the bigger picture.

For the person posting about farms away from everyone being attacked and families tortured while the thieves ate all the stored food, I recall ferfal posting a link to it and explaining that having a bunch of land in the middle of no where can be good and bad.  I honestly don't recall where the article was from, just that ferfal used it to show how isolation can be a problem at times.

I guess the biggest thing I have taken from this thread is flexibility and security.

Good locks and heavy doors are good, but you better be around to keep em in good shape because they are not something that will last forever all by themselves.

As far as survival, having stuff stored and what not is great, but the flexibility to adapt to changes and do what needs done to make a buck, or a trade, is what it really comes down to at times because it is hard to store everything ahead of time.

I guess to some extent I am seeing a picture where what is yours is only yours if you can keep it.  But it is dang hard to store everything needed for the future, so you better be ready to do some trading as well.

Could have been both really, as it has happened in both places pretty often. While still in Argnetina I met with SA people looking ot leave, the stories were pretty much the same. Even well guarded gated comunities werent safe any more. Anything isolated, farms or homes out of the gated community had been inviable for years already.
FerFAL

Flexibility, ability to adjust and attitude were the most important factors. I have tried not to tell you guys what will work and what you need to do. Make your own conclusions from the information in this thread. Life in the Soviet Union was unique in many ways but one thing I learned is that people act and think very similarly, no matter where they live and what culture they grew up in.
It's impossible to store everything you may need. Learn the skills to produce more or skills that may be bartered for food and other necessities. Learn to blend in with others.  What do you think will happen if something bad happens and there is very little food around and people die from starvation, while you walk around looking like you have never missed a meal? That's right. You will be followed and your food will be taken away by a hungry mob or expropriated by the government. Some people think they will be able to protect their food with a couple of guns. Really? What if you house is surrounded with 100 people with guns? How about facing several armored military vehicles with large caliber machine guns? Have you seen them in action? I have. I would not want to be on the receiving end of those guns.
Of course, this is my personal opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

I promised to write about food and cooking during the worst times, when very little was available. This was probably 1989 -1991.
Like I said before, we were not dying from starvation but food was hard to get enough of. Most of our wages were spent on food only. We could not afford to eat meat every day. Forget about frozen, precooked foods, as they did not exist oven before the collapse. We never ate in restaurants either. In fact, I ate in a restaurant for the first time in my life when I was in my late teen years.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, we stored a lot of potatoes for the winter. We ate a lot of potatoes. You'd be surprised to find out how many various dishes can be prepared from potatoes. My grandma was an expert of making a great meal out of practically nothing.
Fish was much easier to get than chicken, beef or pork meat. We could get frozen fish as well as canned varieties of fish.
During the tough years before and after the collapse, frozen fish was hard to get as well but fortunately canned fish was somewhat available and affordable.
I wanted to share a recipe of an easy to make fish soup. Before I do that, I want to stress that we ate a lot of soup. First of all, eating warm soup is very healthy and good for your stomach and healthy digestion. In Russia, soup is always included into a daily menu. It's usually eaten at lunch. When I grew up, people used to say - "Eat a huge breakfast yourself, share lunch with your friend and give your dinner to your enemy". People took their lunches seriously. No one ate dry sandwiches as it was considered very unhealthy. We never drank any fluids before or during a meal. A cup of tea, juice or water was served only after a meal. You would never see people drinking fluids during a meal. Soup was always served at lunch time and consumed before anything else.
People practice the same dietary regimen even these days. You won't see many fat people over there. In fact, any time I visit my parents in Russia, I eat a lot more that I do here at home but end up loosing weight.

A pot of soup can be made from very little and will feed a whole family. Besides health benefits, you can make food last a lot longer if you make soups.

Here is a simple recipe of a fish soup. Try it before you say - "yak". It does taste very good. Of course it can be made with fresh fish and will taste a bit better. We will use a 16 oz. can of salmon simply because it can be stored for a long time and it does taste pretty good.

Put about 2.5 - 3 quarts of water in an appropriately sized pot.
Cut 3-4 large potatoes into a small cubes and put into the pot
Bring water to boil, reduce heat and boil for 15 minutes.
While potatoes are being boiled, take a small frying pan, heat it, put some vegetable oil in it and add a half cup of freshly chopped onion. One mid sized onion, chopped to small pieces will work. Do NOT use dry onions.
Add chopped onions to the frying pan and fry it until dark brown, while frequently mixing the onions.
Add the fried onions to the pot right at about 15 minute mark of boil time.
Add all contents of a 16 oz can of salmon (or two smaller cans) into the pot.
Add salt and pepper as needed, by taste.
Bring to boil again and boil for several more minutes or until potatoes are soft and ready.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes and serve warm or hot.

This is a relatively cheap, easy to make meal that will feed an entire family. Everyone who tried it, loved it.
Other fish can be used for it but salmon does not have much of the fishy smell. I served this even to those who don't like fish, they ate it and liked it.
We use non-refined, virgin sunflower oil, imported from Ukraine, for everything that requires vegetable oil. It smells great and adds wonderful flavor to any meal. We get it at our local Wal-Mart.

I'll post more recipes if anyone is interested.

Thank you. This has become one of my favorite threads to keep reading and re reading.

I'd love to know more of the recipes you know. I appreciate the time you have put into this.


My Girlfriend is Bulgarian and crew up in Commie Bulgaria, but was very young with the fall of it. Her mother is here, and occasionally tells me about that area and things they saw and did. Your stories mirror hers in similar ways.

Thank you for taking your time to do this thread Gyprat. It is amazing to me how similar your story is to mine. After living thru the civil war in Nicaragua, life under socialism/communism is remarkably the same shit story.
I was around 9-10 years old when the war was going on. I was about 13 when my mom sent me out of the country. Thank God she did.

tag

Glad you made it through the mess. This proves again that emigrating to another country with a better socio-economic environment may be the only way to escape a war or persecution for your political views. You had an advantage of being young and being able to adapt and learn the language quickly.
Perhaps you would like to share some of your experiences in this thread?

A few words about freedom of speech and freedom on religion in Soviet Union, before the collapse happened.
Most people were raised as atheists, including myself. From an early age we were taught that God did not exist and that only old, poorly educated people believed in such "nonsense". My parents were raised the same way. My grandma was a believer and often attended a local Orthodox church. She read a Bible too but she never told me what to believe in,  in fear that I may make some comments about it in school.

Teachers told us that we would get in trouble if someone sees us in church but I think they said it just because they had to.  I did visit an Orthodox church numerous times with my grandma and was not afraid, perhaps because I have always been a rebel, deep in my heart. I never got in trouble for this.
There was a lot of communist propaganda in schools. We had a short, 15 minute "Political Information" class daily and communist ideology was taught heavily in History and some other classes too. We were also required to attend political propaganda activities that took place several time a week, before of after daily scheduled classes.

From an early age, my dad talked to me about the BS commie propaganda and explained to me what all that was about. He always hated communist ideology. Obviously, he did not talk about it at work. He was offered to join the Communist Party but he always found an excuse to avoid it. As a result he was denied multiple promotion opportunities at work but as he said, it was not worth it.

Unfortunately, I had to play along in school when it came to participating in ideology classes. When it was my turn to make a presentation, I would find some dumb article in Pravda (communist newspaper) and read it monotonously in front of the other students. Couple of times my teachers made a comment in my evaluation paper that I did not have an "active ideological life position", whatever the heck it meant. I guess it meant that I was not actively excited about communist ideology. Honestly, I did not give a sh*t.

Things have changed after Gorbachev became the new leader of the CPSU (Communist Party). There was Perestroika (reformation or rebuilding) and Glastnost (openness, freedom of speech). This was the "beginning of the end". People were talking about politics everywhere. Even the local drunks were sitting on the bench and loudly discussing the recent political events, cussing the communist party for raising prices on vodka and how it was related to everything else, including local weather. LOL.

People did not know what to believe in anymore. There were psychics on the main news TV channel, talking about extrasensory perception and asking the viewers to put a gallon jug with water, in front of their TVs so they could charge the water with positive psychokinetic energy. Many people did that, drank the water and reported miraculous results. There were foreign missionaries teaching anything from Krishna to who knows what. Horoscopes were on the main evening news mixed with Orthodox preachers participating in the new political movements. People were excited about the changes but also confused as to how and what to believe in.
There was no more political prosecution for different political views. No more prosecution for religious beliefs.

I often attended a non-denominational Christian (Protestant type) church that was meeting every Sunday at a local Culture Palace. Some of the members, including our Pastor told me a lot of stories about what it was like to be a Christian believer back in the communist days. They were considered enemies of the state and often prosecuted and imprisoned. There were several protestant churches in Tula, before Perestroika. They had to carefully screen all new members or attendants because some were sent by KGB to infiltrate the church. The "underground" church service was held at various houses and small apartments. They had to switch places frequently to avoid being discovered. Bibles and any other literature were smuggled from the Western countries or secretly printed in Russia. Those who could not obtain a Bible, often copied the whole book writing it by hand.

Many Christians were caught. Some were prosecuted, some had their children taken away by the state (sound familiar?), some were imprisoned. I met some people here in the US, who were members of a Christian church in the Soviet Union. They were caught several times and given a choice to go to prison or to leave the country. Communists were afraid that the people they caught would continue to preach the Gospel in prison. They let then leave the country. Their apartment (they owned it) was taken by the state along with some valuables. They were given a permission to leave. At the customs, their money, any diplomas and their Soviet Passports and all other soviet documents were taken away and destroyed. Obviously their citizenship was no longer valid. They basically boarded the plane with clothing on them and a small bag or personal items.

One lady told me a story about a young Born Again Christian guy was drafted to serve in the military. He was not trying to keep his beliefs a secret and was caught reading a Bible by the "political ideology" officer. They tried to brainwash him so he would renounce his christian beliefs. He declined. The officer stripped him of clothing and tied him to a pole outside, in a -15 degree winter weather. He poured cold water over him and asked to renounce it again and again and again. The guy refused and died by basically freezing to death. This is a story I was told. I was not there but I can see this happening. Back then, serving in the military was like being in a hard labor prison. I've heard of a lot of stories of some draftees breaking up and shooting an officer or two and them killing themselves. Of course you would never hear about it on the news. Everything was "nice and peachy" in the USSR and all troubles were "caused" by the Western imperialists. Yea, right....

My Romanian friend experienced a similar thing when he grew up in Romania. His family was Christian. The teachers in his school knew that and treated him accordingly. Once he was beaten badly by the principal who asked him to renounce his faith. The principal hit him hard numerous times and threw him against the wall so hard that he lost consciousness. His dad was given a choice to either loose his kids and go to prison for his religious beliefs or to give up all possessions and leave the country. He and his family chose the latter.

I was 8 or 9 when this happened. I was working on my bike and managed to get my finger stuck between the sprocket and chain on my bike. At the time we had a young lady that would come clean and cook in exchange for food. She came over to see why I was screaming so loudly.
Once she saw what I was bleeding profusely and could not get my finger out she was useless. Luckily we lived across a small mechanic/ junkyard shop. The guy that owned it lived at the end of the block next to the shop so he was always around. He heard my screams and came over, Somehow he knew to bring bolt cutters which he used to cut the chain and free my finger.
A few neighbors had gathered around after hearing the screams. I can't remember why but my parents were not around. Once someone pull off my finger (left index) it was obvious that I needed medical attention. Being that is was just after the war there was no going to the hospital. No supplies.
The neighbor behind my house was a nurse. She had set up a glass of water with lots of ice. The fact that she even had ice and was willing to share it was minor miracle. She dunked my mangled finger in the cold water. I vividly remember how quickly the glass turned bright red. At this point the adults around were trying to figure out what to do. The nurse had the ability to help but did not have the supplies.
Someone decided to take me down the street to a Vet clinic. I recall that the vet was not a friendly guy and we avoided his house because he had some mean looking/sounding dogs When he was told what happened he made it clear he really couldn't help since he was a vet. Some neighbor must have pressed him to do something. The whole time I was screaming in pain.
As we were standing in front of his house he said to hold on. He came back with the only sanitized/hermetically sealed needle he had. It seemed huge. Later on it was explained to me that it was used to suture large dogs after major surgery. My guess it was about 6-7 inches long and curved.
While a few neighbors held me tight the vet proceeded to put my mangle fingertip together and put somewhere between 6-8 stitches around my finger. Mind you this happened in the middle of the day on the sidewalk. Zero sanitation except for the needle. The vet put some kind of ointment on it  and wrap it in gauze Somehow my finger did not get infected and actually stayed attached. If somebody that can post pics I can send you a pic of the scar to your email. Pm me if anyone wants to do that. The whole episode took less than 15 minutes. Moral of the story? Be nice to your neighbors and they might help you when you needed the most.

Will post for you. PM sent

Yep, you are correct. Having good friends and neighbors you can rely on is way more important than storing several years worth of food.

We had a neighbor who was a nurse in a hospital. She was the one who we called when someone needed help. She was very knowledgeable and had all kinds of meds stored in her apartment. Having her nearby was a blessing because after the collapse, an ambulance may have not even showed up if we called for help.

BTW, sign up at IMGUR.COM and you will be able to upload pictures and then post a link on here. It's very easy. I can also post it for you, if you want although I'm not sure everyone will want to see it. Some people freak out when they see blood.

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Thank You Gyprat and others  that have posted the great information. has taken me a few days to read through it but i've gained some great insight.

Gyprat I would love to hear some more simple/hearty recipes. now one thing that intrigued me was you mentioned you didn't drink anything until after the meal. what is the significance to that? are you referring to our sugary beverages or is even drinking water with a meal not done till after?

This probably the most informative and useful thread ever on ARFCOM.  Thank you gentlemen for sharing your experiences.  I'm going to read this to my kids.

Drinking fluids before and during the meal was considered unhealthy. Like I said, beverages are often served after the meal. This is what doctors recommended. I may remember wrongly but I believe it was something about enzymes in saliva that facilitate proper food digestion when you chew it in your mouth. We were taught to take small bites and chew the food thoroughly. Your body does produce enough saliva to moisten the food so it can be swallowed.
We were also told that it's unhealthy to drink cold fluids during and after the meal too. Talking while eating was considered rude as well.
Keep in mind that I grew up in a much colder climate than even in the northern US states. I don't remember drinking a lot of water either. Summer temperatures rarely got over 75 degrees F. No one had air conditioning back then. Nowadays, they get 95 or even 100 degree days in July and many homes and cars have air conditioners.

One of the professors in the university I went too, was very nerdy. He always carried a large heavy briefcase, full of books and what not.
One time we played a joke on him, on April 1st. A couple of guys got him distracted while we grabbed his briefcase, took some of the books out and put a 3 lbs., enclosed high RPM gyroscope. The gyro was from a helicopter and would run for at least 20-30 minutes before it slowed down. Anyway, he grabbed his briefcase and started walking down the corridor. Things got weird when he tried to make the turn because his briefcase was still pointing in the same direction. I wish I had a camera to record his facial expression. Of course he figured out what it was but the first two seconds were priceless. Happy Fool's Day professor! We almost died laughing. He was cool and laughed with us.

Another simple recipe, as requested.
Pasta or macaroni were always relatively easy to obtain. Unfortunately eating plain macaroni gets old after eating it for several days. We could not purchase any sauces to blend in with macaroni and we only saw people eating real spaghetti in the movies.
Macaroni can be stored for a long time. Macaroni and other pasta products can be transported without getting spoiled. It's not as expensive as meat or fruits and veggies.
Keep in mind that most food items were received by the store in bulk, reusable containers. The store sold it by weight. They would wrap it in plain paper. Very few food items had color labels or any cooking directions. Fancy labels were considered as a waste of resources. There was no reason to make a box to look nice. There was no competition among different food producers and no reason to advertise anything. An average family generated very little waste (garbage).

Ok, say we stood in line for an hour, after work today and got us 3 kilos (~6 lbs) of macaroni. They were only selling a kilo per person but two more family members came over to join the line. Good thing there was a working payphone near the store and our family is very lucky to have a phone line in our apartment. Thank you comrade Brezhnev !    LOL.

There are a lot of ways to cook macaroni but most require ingredients we don't have. Fortunately we have a couple of eggs in the mostly empty refrigerator.


Here is a recipe of fried macaroni with eggs. It does taste pretty good and is very simple to make.

- Bring 4-6 quarts of water to a boil.
- Add salt, to taste. Add about 1 lbs of macaroni to boiling water. (use less water and macaroni, as needed)
- Boil about 20 minutes,stirring occasionally, until pasta is soft and tender.
- Drain pasta into a large, fine mesh, food strainer. Allow water to drain. Briefly rinse macaroni with cold water.
- Heat up a large skillet and put 2 table-spoons of real butter (don't use margarine or any butter substitutes as they are unhealthy).
- Once butter melts put macaroni in the skillet and fry on medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes.
- Once macaroni is slightly brown(ish), add 2-3 eggs and stir quickly. Fry for several more minutes and serve. Add more salt if needed. (Do not mix the eggs prior to adding to macaroni).

Congratulations. You just fed the whole family for several dollars worth of ingredients.

Warning about eggs: Break one egg at a time and put in a separate small plate or bowl. Inspect it visually and smell it. This will ensure that a bad or a spoiled egg does not ruin the whole meal. The chance of this happening now is very slim but during hard times, you never know if the eggs were kept refrigerated and where they came from. Some eggs may be spoiled. We had to do this back then. Obviously we could not take them back to the store. The store workers would laugh at us.

I missed this thread.

Thank you for the bump.

Very interesting

Edited my post on page 2 ( posted on 12/29/16) to finish answering questions from Derek45.

I'll try to make another post about the Chernobyl disaster, since the 31-st anniversary is coming up later this month. Let me know if anyone is interested to read about it.

Absolutely... please take the time!

Question for you ...

During the spring/summer, did your family doing any foraging?

Going out to gather wild fruit, berries, wild game?


I thank you very much for the time you are taking to depict life over there.

I think I speak for most of those in this thread when I say... YES!

Your writing is absolutely fascinating! I would enjoy your writing about even Soviet garbage collection.

Agreed.

We definitely did. There was not much foraging in the city except in the garbage containers. We never got that low though.
Perhaps the most common thing was  - wild mushroom hunting. Many people took a train or a bus to a nearby wilderness. Some drove cars there if they could afford gasoline.
I learned about mushrooms from my grandma. She knew most varieties commonly found in the area. There were a bit over 100 varieties but only 4 were poisonous. Some varieties required being soaked in salty water or could not be eaten with certain types of food. I knew and could ID all poisonous mushrooms.
Why mushrooms? Because they taste a whole a lot better than the best steak you ever ate. I'm talking about wild mushrooms, not the crap sold in stores. Mushrooms were a good source of nutrition and could be canned or dried for winter time as well. Some days I would bring several 5 gallon buckets full of mushrooms of the best variety but some days I could only find a few pounds only.
My wife and I were camping in the mountains in western NC, a few years ago. We went for a short hike and found a few dozen of good mushrooms. The people who stayed next to our campsite asked me if those were mushrooms. I said - "Yes, we'll fry them for dinner. Come over and try some." They gave me a weird look, like if I had 3 heads instead of one. LOL.

There was very little of anything else to be foraged in the area where we lived. Most animals were hunted to near extinction because of human greed and because hunting rules were not enforced much. There were very few birds left due to poisonous chemicals used at the collective farms. You know,  some people complain about game wardens and the hunting rules in this country but I'm glad the rules are strictly enforced. I'm not a tree hugger but unfortunately, many people are greedy and selfish, no matter whether they live in the US, Russia or Nigeria. Without strictly enforced rules, most wild animals species will seize to exist.

I have never done any hunting over there simply because there was not much to hunt, except city pigeons and stray cats.
A few times we went to spend a vacation at our friends cabin on Volga river, about 300 miles NE of Moscow. We did some fishing in the river but it was already somewhat polluted, even that far upstream. The forests in that area were like magic. The ground was covered with thick green moss that looked and felt like a magic carpet.  We foraged lots of real, wild blueberries. They tasted SO GOOD! Nothing like the ones sold in grocery stores.
The best part, was eating the freshly caught and baked fish with potatoes at the campfire, every evening, while drinking tea with fresh blueberries. The tea was made with a crystal clear water from a nearby spring. I'd give a lot to experience it again.  I can taste it in my mouth right now while I'm typing this. It's amazing how some things surface from memory with such a great detail, even of something that happened 30 years ago.
My dad's friend who owned the cabin in that area where we stayed, was a well known Physics and Cosmology professor at the most prestigious Moscow University. I used to love to pick his brain about creation of the Universe, astronomy and many other interesting subjects. He told me a lot of stories about UFO investigation, objects and structures found on the moon etc. He was also an avid amateur moonshiner. :)

BTW, speaking of cooking potatoes on campfire. Might as well share the recipe. Not much to it, really.  You are doing it wrong if you wrap the whole potato in foil, in my humble opinion of course. We never used any aluminum foil because it traps all the flavor.  Simply bury unpeeled whole potatoes in red coals for 20 minutes, dig them out and enjoy. You can peel the black crispy crust but I personally eat the crust too. Put a little salt on it and enjoy.  The flavor is out of this world. Try to avoid using pine wood and definitely avoid using any oak and cedar because it adds unpleasant flavor to anything cooked over the fire or in the coals.

Thanks again Gyprat for the great stories and your life's experiences.

Thank you.  

We did the same in my youth with nuts, berries, fiddleheads, herbs and spices.
Miss the taste of summer savory in a chicken stew!  
Never was one to go for mushrooms.

You are welcome. You know, most kids these days don't even have a clue about any of this. All they know is that food comes from a grocery store and from restaurants. LOL.
When I tell people about mushroom hunting, they always think I'm talking about hallucinogenic mushrooms. Many would not even tell a difference between a potato and a tomato plant.
BTW, If I really want to mess with somebody, I take a raw egg from a fridge, crack the top to make a small opening and drink the contents. I would never eat a Balut but raw eggs do taste pretty good although it's an acquired taste. I learned to like them when I had my tonsils removed when I was a kid. I could not eat any solid food for about a week and they gave me 2 raw eggs for breakfast in the hospital.

Speaking of getting my tonsils removed......

Skip the rest of this post of you don't like reading about surgery and blood.

Speaking of getting my tonsils and adenoids removed.  This was a nightmare that chased me and woke me up at night for quite a while. I was about 7 years old when the doctors said that I had to get my tonsils and adenoids removed. Obviously the surgery was free but I spent about 3 weeks in the hospital. 3 weeks is about normal. They don't send you home the same day. They would only release me from the hospital when I was 100 % healed and ready to go back to school. Same thing was with adults being in hospitals.
At first they could not do the surgery because my blood "count" was low due to a lack of nutrition at the end of winter ( quite common). I had to eat a special diet which consisted of food rich in iron and special sweet soft candy bar made from pig's blood. Back then I did not know the ingredients and none were written on any packaging.
Finally the day of the surgery came. I attempted an escape early that morning but was caught by a nurse and dragged to the surgery room. The surgery room was dark. They had a chair, similar to a dentist chair, in the middle of the room. I sat in the chair and they strapped my legs and arms with thick leather belts. I've seen a similar chair in the movies about German SS torture chambers. They strapped my head to the headrest so I could not move it.
10 minutes later, about a dozen medical students in white coats came in and the doctor was right behind them. The doctor said that the students will watch the operation.  By then I was so scared that I could not even talk. The doctor grabbed a large syringe with a needle that looked like it was about 5 feet long, and he told me to open my mouth. He put lots of Novocain in there and grabbed another torture tool that looked like a butter knife bent at the end. He started poking and scraping something in my throat. The pain was very intense. All I could do was moan and cry.
It seemed like the surgery lasted about 10 hours but realistically it was maybe 20 minutes. He removed both tonsils and adenoids. I was finally released from the torture chair and taken back to the room with about a dozen more kids in there. I must have looked bad because they all stared at me and said nothing.
My throat was hurting badly but the nurse said that it was normal. Later that day my stomach got really upset. I could not even get out of bed and threw up what looked like several gallons of blood into the blanket on my bed. The nurse came in and started yelling at me for ruining the blanket. She had to wash it and was not too happy about it. I felt very guilty but could not help it. I guess my throat was still bleeding badly and I was swallowing all the blood. Yak, that was nasty. I threw up again but this time they put a bucket next to my bed.
Finally the bleeding stopped the next day and I was allowed to eat two raw eggs and some chicken broth. Several weeks later I was released from the hospital.
The surgery did not cost anything but my parents had to bring small "gifts" a.k.a. - bribes to several doctors and the nurses. My parents also had to find and purchase some some fruits at an astronomical price because it was near the end of winter. Eating fresh fruits really gave me a vitamin boost and improved my recovery.
This is how I remember things. Medicine was different back then. They did not only treat problems but did a lot of proactive procedures designed to improve overall health and stamina. Physical education was taken very seriously in all schools. Most kids were in good shape and very few were overweight. They would not pass me to the next grade if I could not pass PE tests which were pretty tough and included some gymnastics, 2 mile run, 100 meter run, jump, cross country skiing race etc.  Immunizations were mandatory. We had a nurse at school who did all this and we also had a dentist. Dentist was also free for all students, obviously. The dentist was an older lady with shaking hands. I did not like seeing her but teeth checkup test was mandatory for all students. I never saw anyone wearing braces like kids do these days. Funny thing is that back then, most kids (including me) had straight teeth and would not need braces anyway.
Ok, I started with mushrooms and ended up talking about dentists. It's time to go to bed. I'll write about Soviet garbage collection, as requested above.

LOL the point I was making was that the mundane aspects of your life back then are fascinating to those of us who have never even lived close to that hard a situation.

Unless American schools have changed a LOT over the years they just don't teach what life was like in the old Soviet Union. As a kid all I knew was that the Soviet Union was dead set on blasting the earth into oblivion. All school taught was how crappy Communism was. Of course there was the WWII history but even then I distinctly remember a heavy emphases on how little the leadership cared for the soldiers and citizens. Was it true? Probably selectively but I never remember reading about how the Soviet citizens learned to provide for themselves and adapt.

Honestly before reading this thread I could not even come close to guessing what life would have been like. As I read your text I keep feeling both thankful for my own privileged life and along with a healthy impressive respect for what it actually takes to live in a world where you HAVE to think to survive. That does seem to be a reoccurring theme. Those that seem to do well in those conditions are the ones who used their heads and worked through the problems. The solution might not always be pretty but it doesn't have to be to work!

If Soviet Garbage collection is interesting by all means tell us! But don't think I was asking... it was more tongue in cheek.

Thank you again for the time you put into this!

Gyprat thanks so much for sharing - it's a fascinating topic.  I was a teenager in the early '90s and about all I remember about the Soviet collapse was stories about people waiting in lines in the snow for toilet paper.  Hearing what life was really like over there is valuable for the lessons it provides.  

The pictures of your family's dacha are awesome and that "welcome home" table looks amazing!  Can you tell us a little more about the food on the table?  What's the purple casserole looking thing?  Is that local sausage or something that's able to be bought?  I've had Löwenbräu before but what's the red label beer?  Do you like it?  Looks like y'all picked a bunch of green tomatoes - is that for making relish?

I went camping once out in Shenandoah and shared a campsite with a Russian guy who brought marinated pork kebabs for his dinner.  He saw me preparing some Rice-a-Roni and canned chicken and took pity on me and shared one of his kebabs.  Don't think I'll ever be able to eat Rice-a-Roni again without asking myself why I didn't take the time for kebabs, haha.  I think he marinated them in salt water and onions - does that sound about right?

I watched the video for the pickled tomatoes - can you share your recipe?  Google does translate the YouTube page but there isn't a recipe in the notes.  I tried pickled tomatoes one year but didn't care for them - there were some differences, though, between my recipe and the "Russian style" recipes I've since looked at online.

Also, can you share the how and why of your emigration to America?  Any first impressions or memories that stand out when you first got here?  (Other than our terrible supermarket vegetables, lol)

Paying a "fine" on the spot as it's called is a method that makes a lot more sense than getting a summons to court, then a fine, then having your insurance go up for 2 years for a moving violation, it all ends up to thousands sometimes.

Here in US, things are way more corrupt. There is an army of prosecutors, court officials, etc. that all profit from the scheme and last but not least, the insurance companies. There, pay $10 for not using a turn signal, $50 for speeding, $200 for real bad speeding, $500 for hitting someone, etc. etc. etc. As the OP pointed, there is an even a rate for homicide.

One of the best movies from the 90's about corruption in society.

the punks steal a car, then at every encounter with the "law", they offer bribes. The punks keep the car but their pockets are emptied. The "Law" keeps the bribes because $1000 in a few minutes is better than $100 per month.


everyone walks away happy

Their food is so much better than the average 'mericun meal.  It's up to a higher standard even despite the economic apocalypse.

I wouldn't say that an average American meal is worse that a Russian meal. It all depends on what people are used to eating. I don't like to judge anything or anyone and have been trying to share my memories only. Sorry it came out the wrong way.
I dated an American girl for a year. I let her try some Russian delicacies. She ate some of it but I could tell that she did not like it although she did not want to upset me. She refused to eat caviar, no matter how much I begged her to try, LOL.  Caviar is considered as the most delicious food in Russia.

There is a lot of corruption in Russia nowadays.  If you think there is a lot of corruption in the USA, think again. Every time I return from Russia, I want to kiss the ground once I get out of the airport.

My sister called this morning.  Her fiance was killed in a car accident. A semi truck pulled right in front of him on a freeway. The remains of the car looks like the front half is almost missing.
Traffic is terrible over there. They kept begging me to buy them a car. I was very reluctant to do this but gave in and send them the money. Now I feel bad. I shouldn't have bought that stupid car.
The previous car I bought them was rear-ended badly while my dad was driving it. The guy who was at fault,  knew the local police officers.  The cops showed up and told my dad to get the hell out or they would find drugs in his car. This was russian justice. Very typical. It was my dad's fault for being at a wrong place at a wrong time. I could not live in that stupid country.  God bless America.

Thank you Gyprat for taking the time to provide your insights.  This has been very informative.  

Thank you most of all by helping us put things in perspective.  

It really can be worst.  Reading this is like a breath of fresh air or a cold wet washcloth to the face.

Gyprat, how did you choose your screen name?

Interesting information, thank you.

My spouse is Russian.  Every Christmas she tells the story of how wonderful it was that every elementary student at the time got one orange at Christmas time.  It was coveted and shared by the family.  We are so spoiled in this country and the FSA is destroying us.

Great thread Gyprat.  Please keep it going.  Answer questions when you have time.  Subscribing.

I have been to Riga, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Samara, and Balakovo.  The Volga is a damn big river!!!

I've driven in Russia................... Gyprat would you agree that right-of-way is determined by the value of your car and not laws!!    The black market mobsters Mercedes has right of way whether the light is green or red!!!  If you're sitting in your crusty old Lada, you yield to the Mercedes!

I mentioned my first impressions on page 2 (12/29/2016 post).
How I got here? Let's just say - I ran out of gas in the middle of Kansas. The real story is long, boring and somewhat personal. I did everything legally, of course. I'm a US citizen, naturalized of course. The naturalized part really bothers me because I can't legally become a US president. Or, can I?  O well, life if a tough cookie.

The casserole dish is called - "Seledka Pod Shuboi" which literally translates as Marinated Pickled Herring Under Fur Coat". No, there is no animal fur in there but the name origin goes back to the post 1917 revolution days. There are lots of recipes on the Internet. Here is a link to one of them. . You can also google: Seledka pod shuboi" to find more recipes and reviews. You need to buy the marinated herring (Seledka, pronounced as Sel-yodka ) in a Russian or an Eastern European store here in the US. Pickled herring bought in a US grocery store has a totally different taste and smell. Do not use it.

The kebab you ate was most likely made with an old Soviet recipe. The last picture on page 3 shown me cooking the kebabs over fire (red coals).
I'll try to find a detailed recipe. If I remember correctly, you need good pork meat cut to smaller 1 to 2 inch cubes. Marinate it overnight in a glass jar. The marinate solution is water, salt, white vinegar, black pepper and fresh cut onions. Cut the onions into onion rings for the marinate. The rings will be put on the cabob sticks with the meat for additional flavor. The kebab is called; Shashlik which is also known as Shish-Kebab. This is a Russian recipe and has nothing to do with the original Shish-Kebab recipe that uses veal only.

The LowenBrau beer was brought by our neighbors. It was good. To be honest I like American beer more than any other kind although I don't mind trying other brands. When in Russia, it's best to buy their local brands because most other brands are not what they are labeled. I bought Heineken and some Miller but they both tasted about the same. LOL. The beer in the large red plastic bottle was a local brand called Tolstiak (Fat Man). Unfortunately I don't remember how it tasted.
The sausage on the plate was a fairly expensive, dry cured sausage. You can buy it in any Russian store here in the US. Most larger cities have at least one Russian or European Foods store. Most sell Russian beer too. BTW, I've seen Russian "Baltika" beer in many US liquor stores. It goes by numbers, 0-9. Baltika 1 is the light type beer, Baltika 9 is dark beer with high alcohol content.

The green tomatoes were picked off the ground. The tomato plants were near the end of the harvest and some green tomatoes fell on the ground. This does not mean they must be thrown away. They will ripen if left in a dark place at a room temperature.

Hope this answered some of your questions.

Seledka pod shuboj, vinigret, pelemeni (all 100 and 1 types), borsh, schi, other soups, vobla, red caviar, bliny, and last but not least kabob which is cooked much more excellently than even Iranian/Afgani kabob here - with more generous portion sizes, etc. etc. etc. ---- versus Kentucky Fried Chicken, hot dogs, burgers and French fries -- stuff you drop dead from.  Just survey the fast food places here, it's a disaster. To get something good, you have to go to a non-chain.
No contest, really, none.

Oh yeah, lately McDonalds and other fast food places have been spreading like a disease over there also. Since about 1991.

Generally eastern and western european cuisine is far superior to the fast food culture here.

IMHO, only a complete idiot would eat at fast food restaurant every day. Also, not all home cooked meals are healthy either. Things like Hamburger Helper contain tons of nasty chemicals. I'm sure most people know this and avoid eating such junk.
There are plenty if ingredients sold in grocery stores that can be used to create a simple and healthy meal.
I would never feed my kids with fast food meals or unhealthy food sold in grocery stores. For example, we never drink regular pasterized homogenated milk sold in grocery stores. My stomach goes nuts from such milk. We get raw milk from a farm several miles from our house. It's healthy and tastes like milk should taste. Same thing with meats, especially chicken. Local Earth fare grocery store sells organic grass fed beef and organic chicken. It does not cost a whole a lot more but it tastes like real meat. Actually, organic chicken is often cheaper than in regular grocery stores because organic chicken is not impregnated with water to make it weigh more.
We make our own bread because we can't eat the bread sold in grocery stores. Good bread does not need any flavor additives. It has it's own aroma if it's done right. Also, have you wondered why store bought bread can stay in a bag at room temperature for weeks and never go bad? Normal bread should go bad within several days.  I'm sure most people know this. It's "food 101".
I'm not trying to say that all Russians eat healthy. Many eat sandwiches for lunch instead of a healthy meal. They are the ones who have stomach problems later in life. I'm guilty myself. I used to travel a lot for work and could not eat healthy. 12-16 hour work days did not help either. I'd stop at a restaurant on the way to a hotel, grab a quick "to go" meal, swallow it and go to bed. Then they'd call me from work at 2 AM.

Remember I mentioned the bullet proof doors that many Russians installed in their apartments. The demand was huge in the 90's when crime was pretty bad. They still sell a lot of those doors now.  I found a video showing the door being tested. I thought you'd get a kick out of this. Keep in mind that the door frames are attached to the thick concrete walls with a foot long hardened metal anchors. This kind of a door would have very little effectiveness in a house build with 2x4s and plywood.