FOOD!!!

[NYGirl 0]

what is your favorite food that your foreign spose makes and you just love it ( russian only) and does she/he make any american food or at least trying to make something that you are used to eating?

Бутерброд и суп. Okay, that's American too, but it is a treat when my wife makes lunch.

Мне нравятся пельмени тоже.

russ, are you russian?

[Turboguy 6]

Well down here in the Caribbean I am getting to experince my first taste of eating together that is not in a restuarant. We are doing ok and I will survive.

My fiancee's breakfast is usually a sandwich made with bread, a banana and a yogert topping. Today i had hot dogs for breakfast, yesterday was ham sandwiches.

She is a Mango eating machine and probably eats a bucket of Mango's a day. The rest of her diet is either rice. (we have bought 12 pounds of rice in the month we have been here.) oreos or M&M's

She complains anytime I want a coke so I have had about 3 here that she knows about and two more that I did when she wasn't around. I am more a burger, pizza coke guy.

Anyone up for a banana and yougurt sandwich?

[gogal2020 0]

My wife's diet primarily consists of salads and vegetables of any kind. I mostly eat meat - pork, beef, lamb doesn't matter, sometimes chicken. She doesn't let me go out much to fast food joints, but sometimes I stop by for a quick bite. She made Borsht a few days ago and now yelling at me to eat it before it spoils, since she does not eat anything after 4 days, because she thinks that its spoiled. Me, on the other hand I can keep it in the fridge for a while and still eat it. But I guess I eat healthier now, and I don't complain

Mike.

[russ 1]

russ, are you russian?

Большое спасибо! Нет, я американец. Я изучал русский язик на университете во флориде.

The best compliment I have gotten this year! I guess that I'm an advanced beginner. I still make plenty of mistakes, but don't run to a grammar book or dictianary anymore. My mistakes at least seem to be understandable by Russians now.

[CityCat 0]

russ, are you russian?

Большое спасибо! Нет, я американец. Я изучал русский язик на университете во флориде.

The best compliment I have gotten this year! I guess that I'm an advanced beginner. I still make plenty of mistakes, but don't run to a grammar book or dictianary anymore. My mistakes at least seem to be understandable by Russians now.

Wow, amazing! Good job, Russ! So as I see, you are capable of having a meaningful conversation with you wife, right? Great! She must be very happy!

[NYGirl 0]

russ, are you russian?

Большое спасибо! Нет, я американец. Я изучал русский язик на университете во флориде.

The best compliment I have gotten this year! I guess that I'm an advanced beginner. I still make plenty of mistakes, but don't run to a grammar book or dictianary anymore. My mistakes at least seem to be understandable by Russians now.

WOW, you are really dedicated to your wife's language that's amazing!!!

she must be veryyyyyyy proud of you

[slim 1,514]

WOW, you are really dedicated to your wife's language that's amazing!!!

she must be veryyyyyyy proud of you

I wish it were that simple! I know a pretty fair amount of Russian, and my wife isn't impressed at all. (The girls at the club are though!) She doesn't buy it when I tell her I'm learning Russian to better communicate with her. She calls bull$#!T and says that I'm learning it for the same reason I do everything else in my life, "to got it some ######"!!!

Back to the OP about food. Shortly after her arrival, she sampled all the American foods (I'll give her credit, she tried stuff) and determined them to be too fat and unhealthy, and she wouldn't be eating them any more. Since she wouldn't be eating them, I wouldn't be eating them as well. I dropped soft drinks like a bad habit, hadn't hit the drive-thru in months, and actually put to use that money I'd been wasting on the gym membership. But... slowly I crept back to my American lifestyle and now I've eaten about five Baconators (that's a bad mofo sammich!) this month and couldn't tell you if the gym is still there or burned down. I was getting healthy and svelte... now I'm back to Kolobok status, and have put on about 5 kilos. For me, I've made the decision that it's more important to eat what I like than to be healthy. Elena's fully embraced this now by bringing home EXTRA food from her job (she's working in a bagel shop that has the BEST cookies ever!) and saying she's going to "help" me get what I want - a heart attack.

She is slowly breaking me down though. What used to be McDonalds for breakfast, BK for lunch and Taco Bell for 4th Meal (doooo doodo wwaaaaaha wheeeerp!) with beer and cigarettes as a supplemental vice, has now turned into a nice breakfast of Pop Tarts and a lunch and dinner of home cooked meat with vegetables in it. (I usually eat at work only, so she'll cook up some good stuff, throw it in the tupperware, and send me off with it.) When we eat together at home, we have a pretty good meal balanced with all the right stuff from health class back in 7th grade. I'm not 100% converted yet, but the die is cast.

I'm breaking her down too. I've really got her hooked on Mac'-n-cheese, the Kraft cheese shells to be exact. I'll make that with some burgers (starting with Salmon... working towards all-beef patties) and we'll have beer to drink. Or, I'll make some nachos with all kinds of ####### on top (Cheese, ground beef, spicy bean paste, SOUR CREAM!!!!,) and she'll eat half the plate. And I'm really starting to get her to enjoy dessert when we go out. She would never get it before, but now the brownie a la mode is more appealing to her than to me. She's yet to gain the 5 kilos that I have, though!

For the most part, we eat about the same stuff we did before we joined together. We have meals we both like, but our every day meals consist of something I like for me, and something she likes for her with shared food in the middle.

[Satellite 1]

I'm breaking her down too. I've really got her hooked on Mac'-n-cheese, the Kraft cheese shells to be exact. I'll make that with some burgers (starting with Salmon... working towards all-beef patties) and we'll have beer to drink. Or, I'll make some nachos with all kinds of ####### on top (Cheese, ground beef, spicy bean paste, SOUR CREAM!!!!,) and she'll eat half the plate. And I'm really starting to get her to enjoy dessert when we go out. She would never get it before, but now the brownie a la mode is more appealing to her than to me. She's yet to gain the 5 kilos that I have, though!

Are you trying to turn her into an "American" girl, you know about 30 - 70 pounds overweight and proud of it? 'Watch out or you will succeed. Russians are only physically in shape because of their diet and constant exercise. Here we just sit and eat.

[russ 1]

Are you trying to turn her into an "American" girl, you know about 30 - 70 pounds overweight and proud of it? 'Watch out or you will succeed. Russians are only physically in shape because of their diet and constant exercise. Here we just sit and eat.

Some of us don't live in the midwest or CA - we walk everywhere. In the downtown areas of the northeast, or even the downtown areas here in FL (not many, but we live in one) - most people are thin. We walk every place we go.

For physically active people, the high calorie/high fat diet isn't a problem. Greasy cheesburgers are good after a day of skiiing. Pounds of pasta are necessary for running marathons. The important part is having a diet to match your lifestyle.

[slim 1,514]

Elena's defense for not eating this food (cheeseburgers, etc.) is she doesn't want to "be like American girl."

She walks to/from work everyday and still runs in the evenings as well. I'm just a fat-@$$ and like to take naps after eating cheeseburgers or pounds of pasta.

[NYGirl 0]

Elena's defense for not eating this food (cheeseburgers, etc.) is she doesn't want to "be like American girl."

She walks to/from work everyday and still runs in the evenings as well. I'm just a fat-@$$ and like to take naps after eating cheeseburgers or pounds of pasta.

You know, not for nothing but everytime I read these posts about russian fiances and watching their diets and eating only healty and etc makes me wonder if it's how they been brought up or they just pretend to be super healthy. I came from Ukraine 17.5 years ago and from what i remember everyone used to eat fattening, fried and greasy food.

Maybe things have changed once I left there but from what i remember "healthy" wasn't that popular back then. Having a piece of "salo with garlic and black bread" was something that every russian/ukrainian person loved.

Coming to US my family changed the way of eating and we do not cook greasy food but like i said, back then greasy was something that everyone cooked.

I could be wrong but that's just my opinion.

Edited July 28, 2007 by NYGirl

[russ 1]

As of last month, fatty, greasy food was still the norm in Russia. Russians are not healthier than Americans, life expectencies there are among the lowest in the industrialized world.

What my wife cooks is always greasier and saltier than what I make. In my experience, Americans change their minds often about what is healthful. Fist low salt, then low fat, now low carb. I remember 15 years ago, public pressure (for health reasons) made all of the fast food places change from the oils they used to vegatible oil. Now, those very same oils are being banned (partially hydrogenated vegatible oil = trans fat). Most people don't realize this, since the message in the media is TRANS FAT = BAD.

Maybe things have changed once I left there but from what i remember "healthy" wasn't that popular back then. Having a piece of "salo with garlic and black bread" was something that every russian/ukrainian person loved.

Coming to US my family changed the way of eating and we do not cook greasy food but like i said, back then greasy was something that everyone cooked.

I could be wrong but that's just my opinion.

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

Man I got to stay at home and not go away, I miss too much.

Diet-Talk about a lot of changes for both Elena and I. She makes, Borsht, poszni, pelmeni, cabbage salad, liver and onions, cold beet and potato salad, and cutlets. I love em all. She doesnt get into veges too much but Im working on that.

I introduced her to pierogi, homemade kielbasa, hotdogs and burgers on the grill, potato salad, mexican food, veitnamese food, chicken cooked many different ways.

She got me eating more fruit and exercising more.

i got her pregnant.

We have both been very willing to try anything with a few exceptions. Elena really likes ice cream, you know the kind that comes out of the big machine with chocolate and vanilla together.

Elena has started a business at home selling health and nutritional supplements and since she is pregnant is using me as a guinea pig and I have lost 10 lbs in 3 weeks. Its not bad stuff.

I get a shake for breakfast, I get a mid morning snack of granola bars, I live close to work so I come home for lunch, a shake, granola bars for midafternoon snack, and a regular dinner. Its pretty good. I feel better and I look pretty good too. Unfortunately they can do nothing with the hairloss but Im almost to the point of getting rid of all of it any way.

So far though Elena hasnt cooked anything I wont eat(she knows no tunafish or coconut and bananas are looking to be a problem as well, food alergies)

She does like her sourcream and mayo, she doesnt understand what the big deal is with peanut butter.hehehe

[slim 1,514]

Eating mayo and sour cream, fried foods, fats and butter, salty stuff.... the normal Russian diet is no different to what Americans have done with a cheeseburger and french fries.

The big difference is the daily routine. Americans walk from their homes to their cars to their jobs (after finding the closest parking spot) and back. Russians walk from their homes (down the ten floors) to the subway (ten blocks away... in the cold!) to their jobs (which are also upstairs and the lift is broken) then back.

Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 extra calories are burned off each day. And when you factor out drinks like Coca-Cola, you could probably shave a daily 1000 calories off the average Russian's food/exercise compared to the average American's.

The battle I'm waging here (unsuccessfully, of course) is it's not the food, it's the daily activities that result in the difference of appearance. Russ would be a good example of this. Active Americans aren't overweight. Couch potatoes like myself are. Do we really eat that differently? Probably not enough to have a significant effect on our overall appearance. However, I'm one of those "car" people, so my lack of walking is taking it's toll. What I'm trying to convince my wife is eating a double cheeseburger and fries isn't any worse than eathing pilminy with sour cream. It's the activities afterward that really matter.

[foxtobee 1]

My wife was curious and told me to post this new thread.

How many of you out there have now changed your diet since your wife (husband) has arrived in the U.S. and you're now living together?

I'm a pizza/hamburgers/coca-cola/beer kind of guy and haven't touched vegetables since my mom made me "eat three bites and you can be excused." But now, my wife's on me to "not eat such $#!TTY food." She' mixing in all types of green stuff and carrots and even some eggplant in my meat and potatoes. Have you're spouses done anything similar?

I know we touched on this in the cultural differences thread, but this one is just for food. More specifically, it's for the changes you've made (or haven't made) in your regualr eating habits since shacking up together. Please share!

My husband complaints that he has gained weight since I've the kitchen princess. He still puts all voluntarily in his mouth, idon't force him.

His whole life has changed around. he used to stay up late and I do go tobed at a reasonable hour.

In the Netherlands we eat heavy diners and he can't handle it. He used to eat whenever he felt hungry and skipped many meals a week.

Also he used to hike a lot, which is a great excercise here in Arizona. I'm from a flat country and have fibromyalgia, so i have to start slow. it took me 3 climbs to almost make it to the top and am proud of myself.

He runs up and down in 20 minutes, he did it his entire life.

I told him to go by himself,but hye barely does so, because he doesn't want me to stay home alone. I did so for 10 years prior to our marriage.

Yes, his eating habits have changed, but so have mine. I need to read more labels, because I refuse to have High fructose Corn Syrup and they even have it in Club crackers.

I guess everyone is going through an adjustment fase.

Eventhough you were dating, you still could live a bit of a single life on the long distance and all of a sudden you have to live life together. To me it's for the better. WAY BETTER!!!!