On food

Today (29/02/2024) I found this sat post in my drafts. Originally written on the 29th of July 2019. I’m not sure why I didn’t publish it; I quite enjoyed reading it back. I’d love to go back to Irkutsk but feel it might not be possible for a very long time. I’ve added some notes in italics.

Muscular accountant Sasha looks at me like I’m mad before answering “I guess borshk”. Sasha is an ex-colleague of Anya and the three of us are sat in Knamek – an Irkusk cocktail bar. Anya nurses a tequila sunrise while Sasha has a milkshake (he doesn’t drink alcohol) and I have a cafetiere full of apple and rosemary secha tea (I just love tea!). I’d asked them what is their favourite Russian food. Sasha scratched his head trying to think of Russian specialties besides borshk. He tells me Russia doesn’t really have any food. (2024: Anya was a wonderful indigenous lady who had reached out to me online and had been my guide around Irkutsk so she could practice her English. That day she’d taken me to a Datsan (a type of Buddhist temple). She even got me a Baikal nyerpa toy as a Birthday present!)

When I ask the same question to Alisa or her mother Irina they can go on for hours about Syrniki (a sweet patty made of curd, yummy!), pancakes, salads, donuts…

The difference is that Anya and Sasha have each only left Russia for Mediterranean holidays whereas Alisa and Irina have both lived outside of Russia for a large part of their lives.

My physics teacher Mark used to say “in China they just call it food”. I wonder what I will miss about British food. It probably won’t be fish & chips, haggis or shepherd’s pie but something that I don’t even think of as British. I think I’ll miss salt and vinegar crisps (2024 Will: I do miss fish and chips, Curry and Chinese takeaway….).

***

After traipsing around Irkutsk all morning to find a laundromat I’m hungry and irritable. To sate my hanger I go into one of the chain of tiny cafés that are attached to all the bus stops in the city and buy a pasty looking thing. I pointed at something that looked good to order having no idea what it was. It looked like a pasty. when I bite into it I find its a greasy sort of bread dough filled with buttery mashed potato. The overall effect is not dissimilar to Lancashire’s infamous butter pie barmcakes. Some foods are eerily familiar.