Moscow Food Advertisements. 1937

First Champagne from Ukraine to be put on sale in the Autumn (1937)

The first twenty thousand bottles of Ukrainian champagne are expected to be placed on the market next autumn. Tests carried out by experts of the Ukrainian Wine Trust have shown that it is possible to produce from grapes grown in the Ukraine and Moldavia champagne equal in quality to that of Champagne France.

An advertisement from the "Moscow Daily News":

In the shops of the Moscow section of BAKALAIA (Comestible Trust) you will find a large assortment of Groceries
Cooked Foods
Wines
Sweets
Cakes
Bread
Milk
Products

In order to help housewives and enable workers to save time the Moscow section of BAKALAIA has extended its network of shops all over Moscow.

The assortment and quality of goods is the same in all districts; there is therefore no need to shop only in the center. Goods may be ordered in person or by telephone. Goods will be sent home on request. Goods may be paid for on delivery. PICNIC PARCELS at different prices may be obtained at any BAKALAIA shop for HIKING AND EXCURSIONS.

MEAT SHOPS

An advertisement for the meat supply stores:

Shops of the MEAT TRUST have fresh supplies of

FRESH MEAT:
Beef, pork, veal, mutton.

POULTRY:
Chickens, ducks, geese, grouse, partridge, woodcock, and other game, according to season.
Kidneys, brains, liver.

PREPARED MEATS (i.e., trimmed and ready for cooking):
Steaks, entrecotes, chops, cutlets, escalope, chopped-meat rissoles (also of chicken), shashlik.

COOKED MEATS:
Roast beef, roast pork, ham, bacon, cooked and smoked sausage, rissoles, pel'meny (Siberian dish of small three-cornered cases of dough filled with chopped meat).Dripping and lard, meat cubes, meat extract.

Many shops have sandwich counters.

From "Izvestiia":

The Meat Combine called after Comrade Mikoian has just finished building three pavilions in Metro stations, two at Komsomol'skaia, one at the Park of Culture and Rest Station. They are to be opened tomorrow. Here sandwiches, meat-pies, hot sausages, and tinned meats will be on sale. Ten pavilions will be opened in Metro stations before the end of the year.

FISH SHOPS

An advertisement for fish supply stores:

The Moscow Retail Section of the UNION FISH TRUST in its Moscow shops, district and central

• No. 2: Dzerzhinskii Street 22
• No. 4: Arbat 7
• No. 6: Porkovkaia 19
• No. 8: Gorky Street 39,

SELLS

Fish: live, fresh, frozen, smoked, salt.

Filleted fish: sturgeon, fresh-water fish, cod, sander, etc.

Caviar: black and gray fresh caviar; red pressed caviar.

Herrings (salt): Caspian, Far Eastern, Kerch, Murmansk, Dutch, Scotch.

Tinned Fish: sturgeon, sander, sterlet, salmon, freshwater fish (various), cod liver, ling liver, sprats, anchovies, sardines, herrings, crab-meat. Constant supply of fresh and cooked CRABS.

Cooked Fish: jellied sturgeon and sander, stuffed pike and sander, fried fish, cooked sturgeon, fish loaves, patties and vol-au-vents, rissoles and sandwiches.

These shops take orders for fish dishes for banquets, patties, and buffets. Orders are taken on the telephone and delivered to address specified.

Oysters in the shell and prepared in various ways will shortly be on sale in all the shops of the Moscow Fish Trust.

From Evening Moscow:

A pavilion called the Goldfish has been opened in Gorky Park. Here you can get cups of ukha (Russian bouillabaisse), hot fish rissoles, patties, sandwiches, and beer.

From "Evening Moscow":

The Goldfish Restaurant organized by the Union Fish Trust on the shore of the Moscow river, in Gorky Park, ends its season on September 12. During the summer a hundred thousand people have visited the restaurant.During the winter the restaurant will be transferred to one of the closed pavilions in the park. In addition, a Goldfish Restaurant is to be opened in the center of Moscow.A special laboratory organized at the restaurant is busy working out new recipes for fish dishes. The cooks promise us new delicacies made of oysters and crab-meat. The number of different dishes on the menu will be extended to 150.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SHOPS (MOSPLODOOVOSHTORG SHOPS)

An announcement by the Moscow Food Trust:

VEGETABLES

All the year round: Potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, cabbage, beetroot, parsley, root-celery, turnips, Swedes.

Seasonal: Salads, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, spinach, green cabbage, brussels sprouts, peas, beans, cauliflowers, mushrooms, parsnips, kohlrabi, marrows, eggplants, peppers, sorrel.

Tinned and bottled: Beans, peas, tomatoes (plain and stuffed), cucumbers (salt and stuffed), carrots, cauliflowers, eggplants and peppers (stuffed), marrow, spinach, sorrel, sweet corn, tomato puree, tomato-juice.

Dried: Root-vegetables for soup.

Pickled: Cucumbers, mushrooms (several varieties), cabbage, tomatoes, mixed root-vegetables.

FRUITS

All the year round: Apples, pears, lemons, grapes, cranberries, nuts.

Dried fruits: Prunes, apricots, apples, pears, figs, raisins, sultanas, currants.

Canned and bottled fruits: Soft fruits of every kind-peaches, apricots, pears, apples, cherries, plums.

Candied fruits of every kind.

Seasonal: Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, gooseberries, red, black, and white currants, plums, damsons, peaches, apricots, melons, watermelons, oranges, tangerines, cherry plums.

ASIATIC SWEETMEATS (From "Izvestiia")

The sweetmeats of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are exceedingly popular all over the Union. Acting on instructions from the People's Commissar of Food Industries, Glavkonserv is to increase the production of these sweetmeats. New factories are being opened in Moscow, Kiev, Baku, Tiflis, Odessa, and Stalingrad.There will be several varieties of Turkish Delight and halva, kishmish, Asiatic karabakhskaia, lemon and ginger. Azerbaijan nougat will be made of apricots, currants, and other fruits. There will be several varieties of baklava, including those made with walnuts and almonds. The assortment of Oriental sweetmeats will soon include a hundred different varieties.

A large new shop for the sale of these sweetmeats will be opened in Gorky Street in the middle of February.

NEW PREPARED FOODS (From " Evening Moscow")

The other day several regular customers of the Gastronome No. 1 were invited to the office of the commercial director. He asked them to sample some of the new prepared foods. A tray was put in front of them covered with plates containing different foods: macaroni, lentils, carrots, buckwheat, and a jug containing bouillon. All this was already cooked.

Here was everything necessary for preparing a tasty and nourishing meal. Hitherto we have had plenty of prepared meats-steaks, chops, rissoles--ready for frying, but vegetables for soups and for serving with meat-the things which in actual fact take the longest time to prepare-had still to be dealt with in the old way.

Now you can obtain bottles of strong meat bouillon, a great improvement on meat cubes or extract, and also cooked macaroni, rice, peas, beans, lentils, and potatoes for serving with your soup. For those who like root vegetables with their meat there are carrots, stewed and fried onions, cabbage, beetroot; various sauces may be obtained for serving with these.

Thus an enormous amount of time is saved. It takes from ten to fifteen minutes to get ready a full course dinner or supper with these prepared foods.

Source: Bertha Malnick, comp., Everyday Life in Russia (London: George G. Harrap, 1938), pp. 201-208.