National Post (National Edition)
What’s left on Russian menus? Much less food
MOSCOW • Moscow’s sweeping sanctions on Canadian, U.S. and European food have sent Russian restaurateurs, retail chains and food producers scrambling for alternative supplies and bracing for Soviet-style shortages.
Creamy French cheeses, Australian rib-eye steak and seafood risottos are heading off the menu at restaurants after the ban on imports of all fish, meat and dairy produce.
“Prices will go up and certain food stuff will disappear,” said Alexei Paperny, whose midpriced Moscow café, the Children of Paradise — named after a classic French film — was still packed on Friday evening.
“We’ll do our best to survive.... I can’t imagine how some restaurants and cafés can exist under the circumstances.”
He described the year-long ban on products from the United States, the EU, Canada, Australia and Norway as “Russian sanctions against Rus- sians” — a frustration shared by many customers at his café.
“It would have been fairer if state officials gave up their Mercedes and began driving Russian-made Zhigulis [Ladas],” said a diner who gave his name as Yan, while sipping red wine.
Wealthy with petrodollars while the country’s energy reserves drove a strong economy, Russians have enjoyed a rich choice of eateries since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Sushi is particularly popular, ubiquitous across the country and even gracing the menu of Italian and French restaurants. But it’s a fetish some might now have to do without.
Rosinter, one of Russia’s largest restaurant chains that runs sushi cafés nationwide, said more than 50% of the food it serves is imported. It expects sanctions to exacerbate a business downturn already happening as political instability pushes the economy into recession.
“It is quite a difficult situation,” Rosinter spokeswoman Elena Mazur said. “[We] face a lot of work, in terms of menuengineering and pricing.”
For one manager of a chain of sushi stands the potential impact was more direct.
“We are all worried. We don’t want to lose our jobs,” he said, asking not to be cited for fear of official retaliation over his criticism. “There is no Russian salmon.”
Most likely to feel the loss of foreign delights are Russia’s middle-class, who were at the heart of protests against President Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency.
One restaurant in Yekaterinburg has already come up with a special — albeit short — “Sanctioned Menu” of Russian-produced foods as other food experts engage in patriotic fervour.