January 18, 2000

Food and Nutrition


Food and Nutrition

Russian cuisine is wonderful; of that there is no doubt. But, how healthy is a steady diet of it? Bread, soups, pickled fish and other daily mainstays of the Russian table can make for a hearty diet. To fully understand what we consider balanced nutrition, refer to the Food Guide Pyramid. Basically, this guide states that we should consume 6 - 11 servings of starch, 3 - 5 servings of vegetables, 2 - 4 servings of fruit, 2 - 3 servings of dairy, 2 - 3 servings of meat (protein) and a trace amount of fats and sugar per day.

Let's take a look at just one possible, basic Russian daily menu and see how it adds up:

Meal Menu Exchanges
Breakfast: black bread, eggs, cheese, sausage,
butter, tea
starch: 3
vegetable: 0
fruit: 0
protein: 2.3
dairy: 2
fat/sugar: 22

Child's Breakfast hot oatmeal (plain)
(high in Iron, B and A vitamins, etc.)
starch: 1.6
vegetable: 0
fruit: 0
protein: 0
dairy: 0
fat/sugar: .5

Dinner: pickled fish, vegetables, bread, soup, meat or fish, potato and dessert (stewed fruit) starch: 3
vegetable: 2
fruit: 1
protein: 4.3
dairy: 0
fat/sugar: 6

Supper: same as dinner, but without the soup or dessert starch: 3
vegetable: 1
fruit: 0
protein: 2
dairy: 0
fat/sugar: 1.5

Grand Totals:
Keep in mind these are rough estimates
starch: 9 (6-11 suggested)
vegetable: 3 (3-5 suggested)
fruit: 1 (2-4 suggested)
protein: 8.5 (2-3 suggested)
dairy: 2 (2-3 suggested)
fat/sugar: 34.5 (trace suggested)
 

At a glance, it would appear that the average Russian diet is not anymore unbalanced than that enjoyed by Americans. It needs more fruit, could do with more vegetable and would benefit from a reduced fat intake. Sound familiar?

Unlike Americans, the heaviest meals of the Russian day are breakfast and dinner. The evening meal, supper, is light. This is a much healthier habit than eating little, if any, breakfast and a large evening meal. Much of the fish and vegetables are pickled or marinated. Vinegar is very high in potassium and, also, contains calcium and iron.

Below are some common food items and their nutritional breakouts.

Black Bread - Nutrition Per Serving
(16 servings per loaf)
Total Calories: 155
% from fat: 14 % from carbs: 77 % from protien: 9
Total Fat: 2 grams; 4%
( percentages are of daily allowances based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet)
Saturated fat; 1 gr.; 6%
monounsaturated fat: 1 gr; 6%
polyunsaturated fat: trace; 1%
Cholesterol: 4 mg; 1% Potassium: 162mg; 5% Sodium: 151mg; 6%
Total Carbohydrates: 30 gr; 10%
Dietary Fiber: 2 gr; 7%
Protien: 4 gr; 7% Iron: 1 mg; 8% Calcium: 18 mg; 2%
Zinc: 1mg; 3% Vit. A: 57 IU; 1% Thiamin: .2 mg; 13%
Riboflavin: .1 mg; 7% Folacin: 39 mcg; 10% Niacin: 1 mg; 7%
Food Exchanges: 1.5 Starch; .5 Fat

Black Bread Recipe and Instructions

More . . .

Bliny - Nutrition Per Serving (roughly 20)
Total Calories: 174
% from fat: 15 % from carbs: 71 % from protien: 14
Total Fat: 3 grams; 4%
( percentages are of daily allowances based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet)
Saturated fat; 1 gr.; 7%
monounsaturated fat: 1 gr; 4%
polyunsaturated fat: trace; 1%
Cholesterol: 27 mg; 9% Potassium: 141mg; 4% Sodium: 143mg; 6%
Total Carbohydrates: 30 gr; 10%
Dietary Fiber: 1 gr; 4%
Protien: 6 gr; 12% Iron: 2 mg; 10% Calcium: 81 mg; 8%
Zinc: 1mg; 3% Vit. A: 105 IU; 2% Thiamin: .3 mg; 20%
Riboflavin: .3 mg; 18% Folacin: 22 mcg; 6% Niacin: 2 mg; 11%
Food Exchanges: 1.5 Starch; .5 Fat

Blini Recipe and Instructions

 

Pickled Herring - Nutrition Per Serving
(1 cup)
Total Calories: 366
% from fat: 63
Total Fat: 25 grams; 39%
( percentages are of daily allowances based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet)
Saturated fat; 3.3g; 16%
monounsaturated fat: 17g; 75%
polyunsaturated fat: 2g; 10%
Cholesterol: 18 mg; 6% Potassium: 97mg; 3% Sodium: 1218mg; 50%
Total Carbohydrates: 15.5 gr; 4.5%
Dietary Fiber: 0gr; 0%
Protien: 20 gr; 40% Iron: 1.7 mg; 9.5% Calcium: 108 mg; 11%
Zinc: .75mg; 5% Vit. A: 1250 IU; 24% Thiamin: .05 mg; 3%
Vit. C: 0mg; 0% Vit. B12: 6 mcg;100%
Riboflavin: .2mg; 11% Folacin: 3.5 mcg; .8% Niacin: 4.5 mg; 23%
Food Exchanges: 2.8 Meat; 3.5 Fat

 

Cavier - Nutrition Per Serving
(1 tablespoon)
Total Calories: 40
% from fat: 58.5
Total Fat: 3 grams; 4.5%
( percentages are of daily allowances based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet)
Saturated fat; .64g; 3.2%
monounsaturated fat: .74g; 3.3%
polyunsaturated fat: 1.2g; 5.5%
Cholesterol: 94 mg; 31% Potassium: 29mg; .8% Sodium: 240mg; 10%
Total Carbohydrates: .65 gr; .2%
Dietary Fiber: 0gr; 0%
Protien: 4 gr; 8% Iron: 2 mg; 11% Calcium: 44 mg; 4.5%
Zinc: .15mg; 1% Vit. A: 300 IU; 6% Thiamin: .03mg; 2%
Vit. C: 90re; 9% Vit. B12: 3.2 mcg; 53%
Riboflavin: .09mg; 5.3% Folacin: 8 mcg; 2%
Food Exchanges: .5 Meat; .2 Fat
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955