Indian students in Ekaterinburg: "We didn’t get to taste Russian food yet – there are beef dishes mostly. But we liked kvass"

12:59, June 29, 2016

The participants of the Summer University share their impressions

INNOPROM, an annual international exhibition, is taking place in mid-July in Ekaterinburg, with India being its major partner country. It is widely known that food preferences of Indians are different from what the Ural residents are used to, so the exhibition organizers will have to do their best to prepare the catering. Meanwhile, the NDNews.ru learned how the Indians feel in “meat-eating” Ekaterinburg.

A number of international students have recently come to UrFU to study at the "Summer University", including several dozens of Indian students from Gujarat Technological University and Vishvanikitan IMEET Engineering College. The students arrived in Ekaterinburg just a few days ago, but have already explored the city a little, and, of course, got acquainted with the peculiarities of the local catering industry. NDNews.ru talked to the students from both universities: Aniket Govind Pawar and Pachchigar Utsavi Shobhan.

The guests are staying at a hostel and have their breakfasts and lunches at the University canteen. According to UrFU catering system representatives, they did not develop a special menu for the delegation, but still they took some nuances into account – Indians do not eat beef, and many of them are vegetarians.

"Breakfasts and lunches of the Indian students consist of various soups, including okroshka (except for vegetarians because of meat in the soup recipe), vegetable salads, buckwheat, rice, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, blini (Russian pancakes), yogurt and milk. The cooks try to add more spices to the dishes. The students didn’t get to try much of the traditional Russian cuisine yet, but they really like blini and yogurt. They also drink large amounts of milk", says Yana Aymasheva, chief specialist of UrFU Department of International Education.

The students cook their dinners themselves. As Utsavi says, they brought some of their traditional foods with them knowing about the differences between Russian and Indian cuisines. "Of course, we brought some spices, because we use a lot of them, although they are different from region to region. And also sweets – we like them a lot," say the students.

Both of the interviewees visited the Summer Food Festival named "O Da, Eda!" (Oh, Yes, Food!) last weekend, but didn’t taste anything since they both do not eat red meat. "I'm not vegetarian completely, I do eat chicken. But I didn’t taste anything at the Festival – there were only beef dishes there. The majority of Indians do not eat beef – cows, you know. Chicken and seafood only. But I really love coffee, and I was impressed with its varieties", explained Utsavi.

Aniket is a vegetarian, so he didn’t try Russian food yet as well. "We had some vegetable salad, which was delicious, but I have no idea what was in it", he said.

Utsavi noted that, of the food she had tried in Russia, she liked vegetable lasagna, orange juice, "white and brown" bread, and yogurt, as well as kvass (they call it "bread drink, like non-alcoholic beer"). “Besides, there is the language barrier problem. It sometimes takes 15 to 20 minutes just to order food in a cafe," said the guests.

Now the Indian students are exploring the city, and UrFU volunteers help them understand the locals. "We like how everything is planned out here in Ekaterinburg, from an architects’ point of view. And also, people are very disciplined and good-natured, eager to help even if they do not speak English", say the guests. 

Source: NDNews.ru