What do Russians think of less healthy, fattier foreign cuisines such as cheese burger and pizza?

What do Russians think of less healthy, fattier foreign cuisines such as cheese burger and pizza?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, foreign companies ran to Russia to join the large market with 150 million potential customers.

Any foreign goods, including food, were met with pleasure by the locals.

This is the first Mcdonald’s in Moscow (1990):

In several years people got used to so-called “quick-service” food, a term coined by McDonald’s to elevate the image of their menu items.

But pizza has become something special. One can find pizza in almost any cafe or restaurant in Russia. Everybody loves pizza, I think 😎. Italian food and restaurants are very popular. My mother also makes a home-made pizza. It looked something like this:

At school, we could get a school-made pizza. It looked like this:

I even had pizza (made by my mother-in-law) for breakfast this very morning.

Ok, what about junk food?

It is also popular in Russia. Any Mcdonald’s, Burger King, or KFC is usually full of people 24/7. Especially if those “restaurants” are located inside shopping malls.

Kids love fast food!

When my baby was born me and my wife were sure we would never give junk food to our daughter.
Yes, we were so naive.

To go to Mcdonald’s (or any other quick service restaurant) is not a special occasion for us anymore. However, if we go to a shopping mall we usually buy some burgers, french-fries, a happy meal, etc. Usually, it happens 2–3 times a month. I think 80–90% of Russian parents do the same.

But if you ask me would I prefer a nice home-cooked meal or a dinner in a real restaurant to fast food, I wouldn’t choose Mcdonald’s or any other “burger restaurant”.

Picture Source Wikipedia

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