`Am not too fond of the USA' - Vaitsekhovskaya's interview with Leonova

[milanessa]

Calf's brain is a popular dish in some parts of the southern US. You can buy it potted.

[kwanfan1818]

All the McDonaldses in Russia have free wi-fi, so of course they would be.

A friend who did a few long-term projects in Romania about eight years ago tild me that Pizza Hut was very popular in Bucharest, at first for the novelty, but mostly because they were clean and well-lit and had spotless wash rooms, and the employees were trained in Western service. While not all , they weren't , either.

Geez, people, how many of you took ballet classes? For figure skaters? Is there anything MORE boring?! I recall hating it for all I was worth as a kid. 2-3 hours of aimless limbs moving was mindblowingly boring and I wanted to climb the walls at the end of it.

Imaybe if taking ballet were important to the way you make a living, and, particularly in strengthening areas where you were weak and often poorly judged, you might still be bored, but you might suck it up and get what you needed out of it.

As for not liking being in the USA - well, having a bf in Russia and level zero English what would there be to like?

I managed to work and travel in plenty of countries without speaking the language (when there were far fewer English-speakers) and went to the balket, opera, and concerts, went to museums, walked aroung cities, hired local people to take me around or traded for the other person practicing their English (long ago before cable TV and the Internet made this unnecessary and when Bonanza was dubbed in German), found groups of English-speakers, took transport to nearby cities and walked around. There are a number of Russian-speaking people in Northern Jersey.

That doesn't mean she should do any of those things, but having a boyfriend in another place and not speaking the language alone don't mean she's doomed for a miserable life. These camps are temporary, and it's not like she's been dumped alone in an apartment a hundred-mile drive from a local cinema. She seems like a homebody, and she might be just as unhappy being outside Paris or London, except for the easier time-zone difference.

With more and more processed and pre-butchered food in the US market, less people cook with offal.

Lots of cuts have become more obscure, because they need to be slow-cooked to break down the muscle and because they don't look tempting in a supermarket case.

I remember a small Italian Market about 10 blocks from the Busch-Reisinger Museum in Cambridge, just few blocks from my Sommerville apartment. It was known as the place where Julia Child shopped, and stock small quantities of offal, harder-to-find cuts of beef, lamb, and pork, and rare in the US foods like snake. Rumor had it that many local butchers didn't carry their beef/lamb/pork selection, and they were a tiny place with other groceries as well.

[Asli]

[QUOTE=ItalianFan;3850186]

NO Asli you misunderstand me. The "feeble imitations" I referred were not other cuisines but imitation Italian products produced abroad. "Parmesan" cheese from Wisconsin, fake mozzarellas etc are fraudulent products labelled in such a way as to mislead customers into thinking that they are genuine italian products, which they are not. other cuisines are just as legitimate as Italian.

Sorry! What's more I am guilty of buying some fake Italian products from the supermarket. I can't afford the real overpriced thing. There is a wonderful store selling authentic Italian products just at the end of our street, but due etti di prosciutto from that shop and I'd have to give my children plain pasta for the rest of the week!

Although Italians are usually quite convinced that their food is the best food, with recent immigration bringing more and more non Europeans, there are now many more ethnic restaurants than ever before. Most of the ones I have seen are either Chinese, Indian, Northern African, Turkish.

As for Turkish restaurants, I have only seen fast-food ones in any European country. Only doner kebab and at most other grilled meats. I took my daughter to a nice-looking so-called Turkish restaurant in a chique location not far from the Louvre and right beside the river Seine. It was absolutely fake and awful, yet they are able to pay the rent of such a place. How can people even swallow those kebabs, yuck! This is so embarrassing! I wish someone would bring real chefs from Turkey and not employ just anyone.

[BreakfastClub]

But in Croatia for Euros I took to making cracks about living on bread and pork, I barely saw a fruit or green vegetable for a week.

I'm sorry I never ran into you whe we were there. All throughout Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia - including Zagreb - we has no trouble finding salads and entrees with veggies and by renting apartments we went to the supermarkets daily and always had fresh fruit, yogurt, muslei, (and a little too much cheap chocolate ;-)) etc for breakfast and carry alongs. A couple of times we even made our own dinners which always included fresh veggies. The maxi Konzum below the train station was indistinguishable from any American supermarket in size and choice. We also made purchases at open air veggie and fruit markets and I saw one in every city we visited in Croatia and also in Sarajevo, along with plenty of small bakeries with fresh bread - both a fairly rare sight in the US. (The open air Italian Market in Philadelphia near me, along with Reading Terminal are considered tourist attractions... That says a lot. ) We would have taken care of you. :-)

I know PRLady is, like me, well traveled. I think the point of this post is that every traveller's experience depending on what you have access to and ability to get around. If Leonova was staying in generic, characterless chain hotels or rented housing, eating rink food and had no access to supermarkets or a decent kitchen (and the places she was eating out at featured the typical American rich, creamy, salty, greasy junk in 4x potions) I would hate it too.

[babayaga]

I get the sense that lots of people think everyone in the USA lives on McDonalds or cheeseburgers and crappy, half-plastic garbage. No doubt many do. I don't know anyone who eats at Mc Donald's unless tied down and handcuffed. But I can guarantee that many don't eat fast food, and many are very careful and knowledgeable. Stereotypes about anyone are usually based on truth, but sometimes on old interpretations that need updating.

But what does this has to do with Leonova? She did not express any stereotypes, she did not say "all American food is junk", she said she was unhappy with the food she was getting while she is here. Why this caused 15-pages controversy and so many defensive posts is beyond me.

[Prancer]

But what does this has to do with Leonova? She did not express any stereotypes, she did not say "all American food is junk", she said she was unhappy with the food she was getting while she is here. Why this caused 15-pages controversy and so many defensive posts is beyond me.

It has nothing to do with Leonova, who said nothing at all except she didn't care for American food and she didn't like the way the food in the athletes' cafeteria looked. I don't think anyone objected to anything she actually said, although some people thought she sounded provincial.

Everything else is posters arguing amongst themselves, which is perfectly normal around here. Skaters exist primarily to give us reason to argue about things.

[falling_dance]

Skaters exist primarily to give us reason to argue about things.

[milanessa]

Skaters exist primarily to give us reason to argue about things.

Ain't it the truth? I love this place.

[babayaga]

It has nothing to do with Leonova, who said nothing at all except she didn't care for American food and she didn't like the way the food in the athletes' cafeteria looked. I don't think anyone objected to anything she actually said, although some people thought she sounded provincial.

Everything else is posters arguing amongst themselves, which is perfectly normal around here. Skaters exist primarily to give us reason to argue about things.

Thanks for explaining, I guess I lost track of what has to do with what and assumed the poster was implying Leonova is full of stereotypes about the US. My apologies

[taf2002]

Geez, people, how many of you took ballet classes? For figure skaters? Is there anything MORE boring?! I recall hating it for all I was worth as a kid. 2-3 hours of aimless limbs moving was mindblowingly boring and I wanted to climb the walls at the end of it.

I don't care if a skater is artsy-fartsy but if they can't point their toes or use their hands gracefully (see Katerina Witt) then they would most likely benefit from ballet. And if they are serious contenders they will do whatever necessary, whether they find it boring or not. Some skaters used to find figures boring but they did them anyway.

[milanessa]

I think most people find part of their jobs or job training boring - skaters are no different. I'd rather be paid to go to ballet class than weapons training.

[IceAlisa]

I once ate brains as a child without being told they were brains (of sheep or cow, can't remember). My family is originally from Pakistan, I was born and raised in Holland however and not used to certain foods which seemed to be more normal in soms places in Pakistan. Amongst them brains. There is a Pakistani dish which you make with eggs, it's a sort of egg cury. My parents knew I'd refuse to eat brains, so they said the brains were egg cury. After I finished they told me I had just eaten brains. I felt like throwing up. The idea of having had brains still makes me sick.

It makes me sick now too, what with the mad cow disease and all. But back then I thought it was alright.

Lots of foods are normal in the world which we think are weird. What about insects? Scientists say there won't be enough meat for everyone in the future and suggest we better get used to eating insects as they will provide us with enough proteins etc. when there will be shortage of meats. I can't imagine eating insects though, even if it is normal in many places.

Have you seen the Food Network show called Extreme Cuisine. It's all about eating insects and maggots and other lovely things. It's famine cuisine, really.

[dinakt]

I once ate brains as a child without being told they were brains (of sheep or cow, can't remember). My family is originally from Pakistan, I was born and raised in Holland however and not used to certain foods which seemed to be more normal in soms places in Pakistan. Amongst them brains. There is a Pakistani dish which you make with eggs, it's a sort of egg cury. My parents knew I'd refuse to eat brains, so they said the brains were egg cury. After I finished they told me I had just eaten brains. I felt like throwing up. The idea of having had brains still makes me sick.

Lots of foods are normal in the world which we think are weird. What about insects? Scientists say there won't be enough meat for everyone in the future and suggest we better get used to eating insects as they will provide us with enough proteins etc. when there will be shortage of meats. I can't imagine eating insects though, even if it is normal in many places.

Eating foods from different places in the world can be exciting, but also scary.

I had pasta with locust in Berlin. Was crunchy and actually quite good.
I've heard of insects as a good source of protein for the future, and am only for it. If we can get proper nutrition and and even taste from grasshoppers, it's preferable to slaughtering so many mammals.
Agree that a lot of food aversions are cultural. Growing up in Soviet Russia steamed cow tongue was a major delicacy, and though I do not watch food shows regularly, I did catch a roasted rat on a spit. Or was it a hamster.
Nutrition is not cultural though... There is this big article now in NYT magazine about the science of making junk food addictive.

[IceAlisa]

I still like the steamed (or is it boiled?) tongue but haven't eaten it for years.

[Southpaw]

Skategods, please please please send us a vomitcon soon, I promise I'll be a good girl if you do.

[IceAlisa]

Poor 'paw.

As for Leonova--I think it's totally understandable that she doesn't like rink/arena food--quite a few people don't, myself included. I brought snacks with me to the San Jose Nationals. And what they served at the HP Pavillion was gourmet compared to the food at Shark's Ice.

However, what she said sounded like she was thinks that kind of food represents all or most American food. It's like having one bad bowl of pasta at the Olive Garden and deciding you don't like Italian. I wonder if she's ever been to a really great steakhouse or a high quality fusion cuisine establishment or just had some really amazing BBQ. There was this place in SF, a hole in the wall called Brother- In-Law BBQ. I miss it so much. Or Philly cheese steak.

[kwanfan1818]

Tongue was classic deli meat in my extended family when I was growing up. I didn't like it, but my older relatives loved it, and it was part of all of the deli platters.

[dinakt]

I still like the steamed (or is it boiled?) tongue but haven't eaten it for years.

I am sure you are right and it is, indeed, boiled.
European stores sell tongue in the deli section, but it is not the same.

[IceAlisa]

I am sure you are right and it is, indeed, boiled.
European stores sell tongue in the deli section, but it is not the same.

There are some things I still get from the Russian deli, namely, Russian style sauerkraut, you know the crunchy kind, not the limp rude Amerikan kind and those walnut shaped cookies with sweet condensed milk inside (those are a rare treat--there is no nutritional info on the package but I can imagine).

Russian Walnut Cookies. Heaven.

[dinakt]

Skaters exist primarily to give us reason to argue about things.

Brilliant and bears repeating. I would not want to go back to my lonely years as the only looney around who was following skating and getting emotional about it for anything.