Moscow, Russia – Vegan Da?

Welcome to Moscow!!

We arrived at our hostel, Godzilla (you really have to love the name), in Moscow, Russia around 9:30 pm and we were famished.The receptionist suggested we go to the nearby supermarket. What a great idea! It was a fancy supermarket with tons of produce and fresh salads. A couple of the salads looked vegan friendly, but having forgotten the word for vegan in Russian, I had to improvise to find out. I pointed to the produce area hoping the woman at the counter would understand vegetables only. She acknowledged that she understood (hopefully) and I left with a delicious rice and veggie salad. I also picked up some avocados and bananas to eat over the next few days (my favorite!).

Day two, we woke up early and I ate the avocado and banana in our hostel kitchen; preparing for a day of snacking given that we had an extremely tight sightseeing schedule with only one full day in Moscow. This was by far our most intense day of touring starting at 8:45am and ending at 1:00am. In 16 hours we hit: The Kremlin, Red Square, a convent, 4 museums, nine churches (all worth seeing for their amazing floor to ceiling paintings and their un-real architecture), a public park with Russian political sculptures, Arbat Street (filled with performers, artists, souvenir shops galore AND a Starbucks), and finally an outdoor sports and military festival (with kids sports demonstrations including tennis, soccer, gymnastics, and paintball, yes, paintball).

I digress from the vegan specifics, but we just saw so many interesting things in our 16 hour day that I had to make mention. So needless to say, I was starving by 10:15 after having only snacks and a Starbucks tea all day, and I had my heart set on the vegetarian restaurant Jagannath recommended by Lonely Planet and Happy Cow. It would seem like Jagannath would be easy enough to find since we navigated our way through so much of Moscow without a hitch. Well, WRONG!! We searched for 45 minutes, staring at 3 different maps, asking other restaurants for directions (they couldn’t even tell me where the street was), and ultimately we came up with nothing. On Happy Cow, I see that they now have additional information on the location that would have been helpful on that day, but oh well. There are reportedly a few other vegetarian/vegan options in this same area including Le Pain Quotidien and Avocado Cafe, but unlucky for me I found none (I chalk it up to exhaustion).

After losing my cool for a few seconds, I pulled it together and we started trekking back to our hostel (stopping of course to take night photos), hoping to find somewhere to eat along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around midnight, we happened upon a cute Italian restaurant where I spotted Gazpacho on the English menu, so I was sold. With only snacks in my belly, I decided to risk it and order pasta (pasta can be made with egg or milk) with tomato sauce, emphasizing no milk or cream to the non-English speaking waiter. He seemed to understand, but when the dish came out the sauce was pink. I froze and didn’t know what to do but then the water came running out saying, “Cream, didn’t know cream!” The dish went back and a short while later (after my boyfriend was done with his pizza) out came another plate with pasta and plain tomato sauce. I don’t remember pasta ever tasting so good.

Although I did not have the pleasure of experiencing any of the vegetarian or vegan restaurants in Moscow, there are many options for a vegan to eat well. Recently, Loving Hut, the vegan chain (I’ve eaten at the one in New York City and it is very good), expanded to Moscow, but I knew going in to the trip that it was too far off from anywhere we would be and clearly we were short on time.

Even with my misfortunes in vegan eating, I really loved Moscow with all of its churches, architecture, museums, history, and energy. We could have easily spent more time exploring this great city, so please learn from us if you find yourself in Moscow, and visit for more than a day!

Our next day we would be off to Copenhagen, Denmark to see all that it has to offer and to check out what there is for a vegan to eat!

Stay tuned for more ecology cool adventures in travel. . .

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The Truth Behind Being Vegan in St. Petersburg, Russia

At the Vegetarian Pride Parade in New York, I met a vegan who was originally from Russia. Since I would soon be taking a vacation in Russia I figured I’d ask her what a vegan can eat there. She thoughtfully replied, “Nothing.” She then suggested that I go to Whole Foods and buy some vegan snacks for the trip – awesome.  Although she had not been a vegan in Russia and hadn’t been there in years, I still prepared for the worst, stocking my bags with vegan jerky and dried fruit snacks.

My boyfriend and I arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia at 6:00am at a “bus station,” in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, after a six-hour overnight bus ride from Tallinn, Estonia (yes, we travel in style). After walking in the wrong direction for a few minutes, we backtracked and headed in the correct direction with confirmation from a local Russian who spoke no English.

Not quite rested from the overnight bus ride (since French students chatted loudly the entire ride and we sat at the Russian border for an hour). We spent a couple of hours napping and doing laundry at our Friends-themed hostel (no joke, all of the decorations were from the American show Friends).

When we finally got motivated, we headed to The Hermitage Museum. This is a massive and absolutely stunning museum dating back to the 18th century when it was built as the winter palace for Russian emperors. Each room is a masterpiece in itself and all together they house over 3 million works of art and artifacts. Some of my favorite pieces came from artist including Picasso, Monet, DaVinci and Carnicero (a new artist to me but I loved the painting Ascent of Montgolfier Balloon at Aranjue). We could have easily spent a couple of days at The Hermitage, so I suggest leaving plenty of time to explore this amazing museum if you get the chance.

Okay, back to my vegan eating. After The Hermitage, we headed to the Lonely Planet suggested Zoom Cafe which boasts, “If we don’t understand what you would like to order, we will find someone who does.”  Managing without a translator, I ordered borsch and savored in the delicious beet soup. Zoom Cafe draws a cool local crowd, smoking cigarettes, playing board games (the table next to us was in a serious game of Jenga) and drawing masterpieces with crayons on the paper covered tables.

On our second day in St. Petersburg, we took another Lonely Planet suggestion, and stopped at the “vegetarian” restaurant, The Idiot (gotta the love the name). Although it was not fully vegetarian, it was a fun trip back in time with Frank Sinatra music playing and a 1930s/1950s decor.

I ordered a rice and vegetable dish made with dill that was quite good and satisfying.

Each meal comes with a bonus free shot of vodka which I refrained from being that it was 11:45am and we had much sightseeing to do. A friendly ex-pat from Dallas came up to talk to me, after hearing my English, and suggested I also try the vegetarian Cafe Botanica (a Happy Cow suggestion as well) but due to time restraints we weren’t able to make it.

At the Peter & Paul Fortress (the oldest part of St. Petersburg), I tried a variety of roasted nuts sold at the traditional street carts. They were a tasty and protein rich snack. Yum!

Sadly, we had to leave St. Petersburg after just two days, but not before enjoying some more beets made into a salad at the airport (I did need a translator for this one). I have a tough time finding vegan friendly food at American airports, so I was ecstatic to find vegan food in St. Petersburg’s airport.

Having been scared by the Russian vegan at the Vegetarian Pride Parade in NYC before we left, I was pleasantly surprised at all of the food I found to eat in St. Petersburg. I would find out soon if this would be the case in Moscow.

Stay tuned . . .

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