turkey daze
Attempting Thanksgiving in a faraway land, or trying turkey out for a fit? element shows you where in Moscow to get the yummiest holiday fixin’s.
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Russians love to adopt foreign holidays. Take Halloween, for example, which in a few short years ago has jumped from anonymity to a major money-making day for night clubs and costume shops alike. This month brings food retailers a reason to celebrate. The word Thanksgiving used strike fear into the hearts of shop assistants — for workers who are sometimes unsure what aisle the eggs are in, being asked to understand “stuffing,” which lacks standardized translation, is a pretty tall order. Luckily, Moscow’s food chains have begun to unravel the mysteries surrounding Thanksgiving. Muscovites flushed with money but short on time are the prime customers at elitny paradise Globus Gourmet. The supermarket patronized by food guru Arkady Novikov has it all: the bird (490 rubles per kg) delivered daily from one of the Moscow’s surrounding villages and thus guaranteed to be fresh, sweet potatoes (148 rubles per kg) and relatively cheap Russian-produced pumpkins (77 rubles per kg). In addition to these staples, Globus carries an exotic apple-and-sage stuffing that will make your festive turkey taste unforgettable, all for the hefty sum of 289 rubles. The only item conspicuously absent from Globus’ shelves was cranberry jam. That I managed to find at my next stop — Stockmann. A jar goes for 205 rubles, though it runs on the small side so for a serious dinner you may need to buy a couple. Right next to this essential ingredient I found the lazy baker’s salvation — a can of pumpkin pie mix can be purchased for only 135 rubles and will save you a substantial amount of time and trouble in the kitchen. No need to confess, as the mix produces such good results that your guests will believe your complaints of slaving away in the kitchen for hours on end. Speaking of saving, Stockmann’s stuffing for 92 rubles convinced me that Globus takes top honors as Moscow’s most expensive food store. A kilogram of sweet potatoes is also available for a paltry 135 rubles, cheaper than the options offered by competitive stores. Alas, for all its affordability, Stockmann does suffer from one flaw — it sells no fresh turkeys, and no one should really be expected to shell out 840 rubles for the frozen version. For those turned off by Globus’ high price tags, I’d recommend searching for a discount turkey at a market. Since the potential of Thanksgiving sales has yet to fully hit Moscow, your odds of finding a bird through sheer luck are not high. Don’t get frustrated — talk to the retailers who sell chicken. With good negotiation skills you can pre-order a turkey and pick it up the night before dinner for a mere 170 to 180 rubles per kilo. I even managed to get the mobile phone number of Varya, a saleswoman at Usachevsky Rynok, to ensure that my promised bird would be delivered, but you can’t have it. |
