As long as we're on the topic...

Looking back, almost all of my recent posts have somehow involved food. So I figured I'd take this opportunity to continue the trend and share with you one of my long-term projects for my time here...

So lots of things in Russia are weird. Not drinking the tap water is weird. Not having a standard side of cars for the steering wheel to be on is weird. The fact that people don't flush their toilet paper but instead put it in little baskets next to the toilet (not because the septic system can't handle toilet paper, but just because) is weird. 

But one of the weirdest things is to see normal American things transformed into weird Russian things. Like, for instance, simple Lays potato chips. They have Lays in Russia, which is cool because I'm a big fan of potato chips. But none of the flavors here are anything you'd even expect might exist in the world. I've been trying my best to sample all the weirdest and most wonderful types during my time here. Here's a few of the highlights:

Alright. I know you want to know how they all were.

Let's take it from the top left and work clockwise.

1) Красная Икра = Kracnaya Ikra = Red Caviar. These chips tasted nothing like caviar, but were rather odd and kind of sweet. They weren't horrible, but weren't my favorite. And I was really disappointed because I wanted them to actually taste like caviar.

2) Бекон = Byekon = Bacon. These are pretty much delicious. They taste like a little bit saltier and less sweet version of American barbecue flavored Lays. A friend told Megan and I that we had to try them when we got a chance because he'd had them... and we were not disappointed.

3) Белые Грибы со Сметаной = Beliye Gribie so Smetanoy = White Mushrooms and Sour Cream = Fail. These were horrible. I could hardly eat them. I love mushrooms... but these were so awful. Ugh.

4) Краб = Krab = Crab! These are my favorite to talk about because they're just so weird. Who would ever decide to make crab flavored chips? Also I love that they come in a pink bag. I feel like a pink bag of Lays would never exist in the US... because what normal chip flavor would possibly be pink? The chips inside this pink bag taste exactly like that fake crab stuff that is really some sort of fish rolled up. When I was a kid my mom would always put it in chef salads and it was decently tasty but mostly I liked to unroll it and turn it into a giant zigzag. Anyways, imagine that flavor plus potato chip. I think they were actually pretty good once you got past the initial shock. Others had mixed opinions. Some people thought they were awful. Perhaps it was my fond memories of salads past and my love of the pink packaging with a cute little crab on it that made me like the chips... I don't know. All this taste testing is hard work!

P.S. Although I've tried all the weirdest flavors, there are more odd Lays out there... stay tuned for further culinary updates.