In my last article ''Hardships of being vegan in Russia'' I talked about difficulties of being vegan in Russia. And I was mostly telling about physical obstacles like lack of availability of different vegan and plant-based products. In this post I’m going to give a background about our society regarding ethical and plant-based living.
We all have to live in a non-vegan world. But for some countries it’s more common to be somewhat plant-based, while in others traditional diets are centered around animal products. If we speak about Russia, I’d say we have abound 10% of traditional vegan dishes, while a lot of meals are concentrated on dairy, and meat is a regular side dish. So avoiding dairy is particularly difficult, it finds its way into a lot of products, dairy section takes a huge space in any supermarket. We have such types of dairy products, that don’t even have name in English.
History of vegetarianism in Russia goes back to the 18th century with Leo Tolstoy being the leader of the movement. The vegetarian movement managed to get a lot of followers, open cafeterias all over the country and even edit its newspaper. But it was all destroyed after the October Revolution 1917. Vegetarian society was closed, a lot of people were repressed. Stalin didn’t favor such things in his regime. So the movement was frozen for more than 70 years. Only in the late 1990s, a few years after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, the movement got a little bit back on its feet, and now it’s developing slowly. So that a few vegan products have been available for around 5 years.
So in short, as I feel, our country is maybe 15-20 years behind the vegan movement in Western Countries. We have just one major Animal Rights Organization (called Vita). Most animal-protection movements focus on cats and dogs. And even for these 2 privileged species there isn't a normal law. Still a big problem with mass dog culls, dog hunters, lack of shelters and spaying/neutering. I would say, our situation with animals is better than in China, but not too much.
Most vegetarians in Russia are lacto-vegetarians centering their diets around dairy, especially cheese. And they are mostly inspired by Hare Krishna movements and Indianish/Vedic traditions. It’s sometimes annoying to browse through vegetarian recipe sites, ignoring hundreds of recipes with milk and cheese. Funny thing: they strictly avoid eggs, and you can often find recipes of “vegetarian eggs” – made from milk and cheese)) Haha, for me it’s so ridiculous, dairy industry isn’t much less cruel than egg industry, same torture, same baby-killing…
And these recipes take like a few hours to make! Funny people… And they also have detailed guidelines about how to choose “vegetarian cheese” – without an enzyme taken from a calf’s stomach (after killing, of course). Also funny – baby cow is killed anyway for the production of cheese they eat, doesn’t matter whether rennet is added to one particular cheese or not…
So our Russian vegetarianism comes as a form of religion – where milk is a “holy product”, and cow’s a holy precious animal, that was sent by angels to our earth…but nobody gives a damn about how this divine creature and her babies are treated, they’re just happy to consume the secretions and develop spiritually that way (yes, they’re really saying that you can’t develop spiritually without drinking cow’s juices!).
Although all of this is a little annoying, I’m still grateful that these people exist, because thanks to them we have a lot of vegetarian restaurants with vegan options, they developed vegan mayonnaise and wheat sausages. Without them the situation would be much worse.
And by the way, my way to veganism started by recognizing that if we’re drinking cow’s milk, then cow’s like a mother to us. So it’s unethical to make beef out of a creature that “gives” us her product, it’s disrespect. That’s how I first ditched beef, then all red meat, then chicken, fish. Now I think that taking cow’s milk is unethical as well, all those years of enslavement and killing their babies are in no way “respect” to a cow.
As for the veganism itself, that’s a tiny minority. Saint Petersburg is considered the best place for vegans in Russia, so far (even though it’s in the north, and it’s a cold city). Other cities are drastically behind. Just 2-3 years ago we got our first Russian company producing vegan cheeses (quite expensive, because it’s in the early stage of demand). Plant milks have been mostly imported from Europe and heavily priced (around 5 times more expensive than cow’s milk). Only a year ago I started seeing soya milk from local producers. In special veg shops, of course, not in regular supermarkets (I think this special time has another 10 years to come). Wanna vegan cakes, muffins, sweets and that kind of stuff? You’d be very lucky to find any being sold. But you can order them from private vegan bakers, who exist in most cities (that’s how I had a vegan cake on my wedding!).
Oh, I almost forgot about the Raw Food movement! It’s a little popular, more widely-spread than veganism, I know quite a few guys who follow such diet. We have several prominent Russian authors and health practitioners promoting that kind of stuff. Of course it’s purely for health reasons, for “cleansing” and being very special and get superpower)) Some of them don’t mind wearing leather or even fur. But thanks to these dudes we can get some raw sweets and smoothies.
Oh, and speaking about vegan situation in Russia, it’s worth mentioning about Orthodox Christianity (which was adopted in Rus in 988 from Byzantium). Many people here follow this type of Christianity, you can see many beautiful churches with golden domes in every city or town. And big part of the Christian tradition is something called Great Lent – type of religious fasting, which excludes animal products (leaving fish on some days). It takes place in different dates every year, but approximately middle May- middle April, around one month. Although a small percentage of people who call themselves Orthodox Christian actually observe the Lent, it’s still a golden time for vegans. Every café serves “Lent dishes”, frozen Lent meat alternatives suddenly appear in supermarkets, woooow. Lent mayonnaise! Near my house! And then after April it all disappears for another year :(( And the memory of this is to be treasured throughout all the difficult times! =)) Funny thing: when religious grannies ask whether I observe the Lent, I tell that I’m on eternal Lent :D ;))
That’s probably all I wanted to tell about veganism in Russia. There are difficulties, but there is also hope. :)
Next time I’ll tell about tricks, that help me stay veganish in Russia and be satisfied with my food.
Resteemed, upvoted and commented @steemitbaby and @clixmoney
Hey@ steemitbaby, that is a very well written and though out post. I can get a real sense of your commitment for Veganism and you should be very proud of your actions. I would imagine that it is quite a difficult task to find some of the products that the rest of us take for granted.
The difference between now and when I first went Vegan over 2 years ago is massive here in Ireland. Our traditional food here would have been very meat and dairy based too. Slowly but surely we are bringing Veganism to the mainstream here too. Every other week there is articles or interviews on the TV or radio. Sure, not all are positive but the more coverage we get for Veganism the better. The more we can show the world the many many advantages of Veganism the better.
The Go Vegan world campaign is from Ireland too I am very proud to say. They take out high profile billboards across cites to promote the Vegan message. https://goveganworld.com/
Hang on in there it is only a matter of time before the popularity of veganism grows in Russia too. With people like you promoting the ethical, health and environmental benefits of Veganism people will slowly but surely come around. After all there is no logical reason not to be Vegan after all.
Keep up the great work.
I don't know if you saw my response to you on my cheese pasta recipe but I did post a link to a European Vegan shopping site. I hope that it is some use to you. If I can help in anything else please let me know.
Also following you now too for more like this.
hi, Moonit, I was so delighted by your comment!! such a great support, that's why my husband made me write these things, so that I feel less lonely and more impowered by like-minded people!
I heard of this campaign in Ireland, that is so awesome! in our country I don't think such billboard would be allowed to be hung in the public! Even some very basic laws protecting dogs, cats, laws to prevent cruelty in circuses, cruel hunting, are soooo difficult to be passed by the government. Our Vita organization fights so hard, and nothing seems to be moving. But I also think the perception of animals will be changing gradually.
Never surrender, keep on fighting for the rights of all animal life on this little rock. You should be proud of yourself but always hungry for more. It may take 5 years, it may take 100 but some day the world will be Vegan. Until then we fight!
I for one am proud to have you as a steemit connection.
Yees!! I'll keep it up!
I like the vegetables
awesome)
looking forward to recipes! :-) welcome
thanks! do you mean Russian cuisine vegan recipes? ;))
what ever kind. :-)
I will!)
during the Lent season you have to stock up as much as you can, hehe. I can imagine its difficult.
my freezer would take this probably =))
I used to buy Lent Mayo in bulk, filling half of my fridge with it - it lasted for around 5 months))) now I can get it in a special shop all year round.
but the trick is to be able to go out and eat freely anywhere during the Lent, something you can't stock for the future)
wow what a great perspective. I have a couple of questions. In Alaska we have many American- Russians (that came over when they outlawed religion there) in our fishery's . They all have these amazing calender's. Beautiful art work and they break down what can be eaten on what days. Even no cooking with oil days. I found it so fascinating. So does Russia have Amazon? I know they are carrying a lot of dairy-free vegan products. I lived in Berkeley California for about 20 years before moving to Pittsburgh, PA. I understand the very sneaky was that people just add items and do not think"that" counts. What about during the times that the products are in the store can you double or triple up on buying them while they are available on the store's shelves? Or can you grow item use to make said products if even small batches? And id the treatment of the animals the issue can you not buy from local framers who treat their animals with respect and provide antibiotic free animal products? All just question I find it quite fascinating. I cannot wait to see what you deliver next. Thank you for joining us here in steemit land. I hope you have an amazing day.
wow, what a big message, thanl you for support!
So you know a lot about the Lent already, even more than me (on which days oils are not allowed, for example), cause I don't observe the official Lent (not religious).
Yeah, as I said in another comment, I stock on mayonnaise during the Lent, I could also stock on sem0prepared meals, but this is not the point, I'm ok with cooking the meals from scratch, but Lent also provides with comfortable eating-out.
I cannot order things from Amazon, but there is an analogical site - iHerb, from which I order some fun things like Nutritional Yeast and Dry maple sirup)
But as for growing myself, uhhh... I don't think I can handle it! but I already grow green onion sprouts on the ceiling!))
Buying from local farmers who treat animals well... First, I don't think that animals grown for food or for profit could be treated as sentient beings, they are just a commodity for their owners. They're not even recognized as "pets". And even if they live a life relatively free of suffering, they will still have the same end - head chopped. My dad used to get chickens in his backyard. He promised me to treat them humanely. But as they grew up he chopped all the males, leaving just one to fertilize the eggs. And after 2 years when they stopped laying eggs, they were all chopped without pity. That was painful( And the same goes about local farmer's cows, the same destiny, and their calves are taken for slaughter just the same way :(
I see well we each have to live our own truth. I have to say very well done hope you have an amazing day .
yeh, vegetables are very necessary for health. A lot of meat dishes create uric acid.so vegetable are very useful.
good you recognize it! :)
You got a 8.88% upvote from @mercurybot courtesy of @clixmoney!
Very valuable post! I am waiting for more.
thank you so much for support, you've motivated me to write more)