Russia - Natural, Imported or Kid's Food

Boris, 26

[Lives with his flatmate downtown. He has jewish roots, studied Kabbala and follows the respective regulations.]
I grew up with my mom and had to always cook for myself and for my sister. When I was 18 I started living alone. So I have a lot of experience of cooking and understanding the importance of seeking quality in food came to me early.

I prefer to enjoy the taste of food or drinks separately. I never drink and eat at the same time - be it alcohol or juice or water. When you consume it at the same time you can't feel neither the drink's true taste nor the food's.
Alcohol is good as aperitif or digestif.

It's really helpful to know that red wine improves the taste of meat. Or that there is this French drink that improves the taste of almost anything. But you have to drink only before or after the food.

Choosing Food

Again adhering to your preferences is important. Even the worst grocery store will have something to choose from. If it's full of chips and crisps and soda water - you can always find something like a bottle of yogurt of cottage cheese.

I can't eat crisps at all. I am disgusted by the unnaturalness of them. (Nachos are natural and made from corn - I can eat them.)

At work we have few dining options at considerable prices so we cook in the office. We go out and grab vegetables at the kiosk and make okroshka or bring rice and make rolls.

Bad food will make you feel heavy and your head will feel dumb.

Cooking

Cooking to me is always intuitive - I never follow recipes. A recipe is like a mind barrier. It limits you. I think it's our Russian thing - we don't like following prescriptions.

Shopping

I go to the medium-segment supermarkets - Perekrestok, Sedmoi Kontinent. Because again you can find good food in any store.

Mostly what I cook at home is meat and vegetables and rice. So my shopping is quite easy.

You can always tell the bad vegetables from the good ones by smelling and feeling. But I would never buy frozen veg - it's better to have fresh potato and meat than frozen broccoli.

I buy decent meat but never above 400 rubles per kilo (9 pounds). I am very sensitive to price promotions and deals.

When I buy sauces I always look at the content - stuff like modified starch and glutamate in sauces or ketchup are not acceptable to me.

Butter

I consumer butter only with pancakes, red caviar or pasta sauce (the one with cheese). I never even think about margarine.

I try to always buy President - but the one that is made in France. I have been to France 4 times and I remember all the names of the brands, cheeses, bakery and butter. Russian products never taste the same - so I avoid them.

If French President is not available I can try something Finnish, Swedish, or Baltic. They have a reputation of producing good dairy. I am especially interested if they offer a discount. That's when I am willing to experiment.

I don't consume a lot of butter because I try to avoid fat. I have some weight problems.

I fry without oil. Maybe just a drop of sunflower. Olive oil goes in salads.

Deals

Promotions and deals are very interesting. For example I know that any imported beer for 100 rubles (2.3 pounds) is more or less equally good. If a beer from UK is offered at a discount I will definitely choose it.

And again I remember all names and tastes of beer so I will not have some second thoughts.

Spices & Sauces

Like I said I try to avoid spices and sauces because I prefer the real taste of products. I would rather add some sauce in a plate later. Good products are best enjoyed alone.

But if I buy soy sauce or special rice - I will find a wholesale market online and go there and buy a 1.5 litre bottle of sauce for the price of 2 small bottles in the store.

Or seaweed paper and chinese mushrooms:

Going Shopping

Let's go to the nearby Perekrestok. It is a flagman store - they have everything you want there.

Leek is something I need for salads all the time:

[Then Boris picks up a bottle of his favorite discounted wine and fresh carrots.]

When you choose sour cabbage (a Russian traditional food) you have to look at the date of production. It's full of vitamin C and so on.

[At first Boris wanted to buy the usual meat he picks up here. In the fore front of the picture:



But then he noticed sliced meat at the discount:


This is the smaller pack of President made in France. It is more pricey but Boris sees value in it because of flavor and quality


If you look at the back you will see that the pack itself is all in French. Only the sticker is in Russian - the proof that it wasn't produced in Russia.



When Boris noticed salty Lurpak in the small long pack he says he would be interested to try it if it was at a discount. He likes the unusualness of the pack and the new imported brand he never heard of before. See top left corner:


This kind of cheese looks like nothing produced in Russia - the package, the design - so it can be grabbed at once.


Every egg has to be checked for integrity:



Suddenly Boris realizes it might be a good idea to check if the wine is still sold at that attractive price:


He is very concerned with value while shopping. The price is the same.

When we exit the store he explains that he usually chooses water and juice for kids. Because the producers can't compromise the quality on these kind of products plus they are sold at moderate prices.

Opportunity: Lurpak has the obvious option of to communicate its imported dairy quality along with price promotion to drive trial.