This is a German dark beer that my host mom bought us for dinner. I told her I liked dark beer so we had it on weekends and holidays.
This is a Czech dark beer. My host mom is a Czech language teacher, so she is partial to their brews. She thinks Russian beer less tasty.
This is a Russian dark beer called “Port Arthur.” Port Arthur is famous for being the place where the Japanese Navy sank the Russian Imperial Admiral. You can see the dog has a sword and naval uniform. There’s also a cannon to reference this. Personally I thought this was the tastiest bottled beer. It had a slight caramel taste.
This is a Georgian beer. I wanted to keep the bottle, but waiters in Russia take them away as a courtesy when you’re finished
This is a Brewery near Avtovo called AF Brew. Although they speak Russian, the labels and aesthetic are identical to any brewery you’d find here. This is a milk stout, so it literally tasted like Starbucks
Best dinner ever. My host mom just put down a chicken with salt and rosemary and let me go nuts. No sides
This is a sardine. Honestly it wasn’t that bad, and I ate the head first. It’s just a bit fishy. Below is rice with our familiar Kikoman soy sauce.
Russians eat a lot of Salmon just like it was the PNW. My host mom would just fry these steaks with copious amounts of black pepper and salt
This is when I made pelmeni with my host mom. It was a three hour process and I ate for no more than ten minutes. No worry. I just turned on my Soviet music and we folded like card houses.
These are capelins. They shed scales violently, but it’s not bad. Here I tried picking meat off the spine. But when I got to Sochi, I just ate the bones and head…although I learned I wasn’t supposed to.
This was my attempt at showing my host mom burritos. They didn’t have tortillas in the market so I used Armenian lavash. And my host mom wanted to put cabbage in, so I let her. Odd
This was an emergency dinner. My host mom wasn’t home so she literally called her sister to come across town to feed me. Resistance was futile.
This was a massive grocery trip my host mom made literally the day before I left for home. She always over estimated how much I could actually eat.
These are cognac chocolates. They actually taste like booze. Little secret: Russians almost like cognac more than vodka.
This is a cooking show just like Alton Brown’s Goodeats. Except this is a jar of straight sauerkraut. And that’s all they’re making.
This was taken at an apiary in Sochi. They brought us numerous samples of honey infused wine the moment we sat down. Delicious
Pishki!! This are exactly what they look like. 15 cent donuts
Ого, this is McDonald’s but something’s wrong. They only have a nine piece, and not ten. No one seems to know why, but I suspect it’s because even numbers are unlucky. Oh well, they taste the same more or less.
This is Pizza Hut around Valentine’s day. This restaurant had all the quintessential American decorations hanging up like Elvis and the Confederate Flag. I guess this is like when we hang up the Eiffel Tower at crepe cafes. Watch how much Russians like their pizza

This is some Coca Cola. It’s quite popular
Unfortunately Smoke and a Pancake, Cigar and a Waffle and Pipe and a Crepe were nowhere nearby.
Get a milkshake and some more novel American ambience at the California Diner on Arbat in Moscow
The dinner check from a Georgian restaurant in Sochi. Check out some of the prices you can expect for an entree or Khachapuri. Keep in mind $1=65p at the time of my trip
This was me being curious about Chinese food in Russia. Sadly it’s not the best, and I tried more places than this. Oh well, it just means more room for Khachapuri
This is a burger menu in Sochi. You can find such hip burger names as The Greenpeace, The Lucy Juicy, and the So-Cheese Burger