I remember very well the times of perestroika and the collapse of the USSR. I remember how on the first, it seems, channel, Mr. Zadornov, who was then considered a humorist, with characteristic grimaces talked about the reaction of a Soviet citizen to a hundred (or how much) varieties of sausage in Germany.
They listened to Zadornov and dreamed of such an abundance of food. I wanted to go to the store and buy almost everything ready-made. I remember witnessing a conversation between beautiful middle-aged ladies who gathered for a cup of tea and jam. Jem was in some unimaginably beautiful bank, brought "by acquaintance" from abroad. The jam was, in fact, tasteless. Too sweet. I, small, ate a spoon and never shoved it. But the beautiful ladies admired and envied him - how good it is for foreign women to live! No muddy cooking for you, no sunsets in the summer to provide your family with something tasty for the year ahead ...
In the minds of many, foreign stores were pictured as a kind of fabulous Eldorado, the supply of their own was getting worse and worse. Coupons are a sign of the end of the country - I think many have remembered. And, I would not call the cause of the collapse of the USSR at all the people's craving to build a democratic society. A huge number of people just wanted to live like in a movie. And a hundred varieties of sausages on display.
But what is surprising: no one thought that, firstly, there might not be enough funds for this sausage, and, secondly, that most of the products might become... inedible.
And now, almost thirty years after the collapse of the USSR, more and more people come to the conclusion that the process of cooking, for the most part, takes place at home.
Convenience foods - those that are edible - are too expensive. And those that are at an affordable price do not want to eat, either the taste is rare filth, or the composition is terrifying. All kinds of marinades and preserves - you also need to look in the store, and it's not a fact that you will find it. Edible, I mean, the assortment is large.
Cakes, pastries and other sweet pastries are also made by many at home. At the same time, the price of homemade baked goods may exceed the price of industrial products, but... The taste is many times better! And in order to bake, you will also have to go shopping to find good, real butter for a price that does not hit the head with a sledgehammer, good condensed milk... But you never know the ingredients in the confectionery. And cheap ersatz show themselves far from the best way there.
Sausages and meat gastronomy, and that people begin to make at home.
It is enough to look at the number of recipes (on Zen and not only) and you can already estimate the massiveness of the principle that is not once voiced in my comments to the previous publication: it is more or less safe to buy only basic products.
And at the same time, someone else is trying to condemn Soviet culinary and food habits and traditions. Like, after all, we had to do everything ourselves.
In my opinion, something like a paradox arises here... Now they do "everything themselves" even more often than before.