Hello Moose (donuts?)!

And we’re off to Cherskii. So far we’ve been exposed to quite a variety of food. Yesterday, in downtown Yakutsk, we solicited a delicious cafeteria that gave us a chance to try liver with mayo, spiced carrots with mushrooms, fried bread-pocketed meatballs, flaccid french-fries, chicken kabobs, raw salmon, and of course, meat donuts. This meal was the follow up to our breakfast of butter-porridge and hotdogs. Our inability to successfully articulate what exactly we want to eat has resulted in some frustrating but humorous exchanges. At breakfast, we were all systematically offered “chai” or “coffee,” only to discover that there was no chai (tea) after all.

“Nyet chai!”

Expectations are high after all we’ve heard about the local cuisine we’ll be eating on the barge in Cherskii.  Our diets should be fortified with reindeer, fish (if we can catch it) including char and sturgeon, and various forms of moose (stew, stake, etc.).  As they say, there is no nobler meat than the majestic moose.  As Sergei Zimov says, vegetarians “will lose weight”.  Unless they are satisfied with eating only potatoes and dill.  The occasional cabbage salad will be a treat.

Here’s to dill, heaps and heaps of dill.

Travis and Max