Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the new episode of the BigAppleSchool Podcast, the bi weekly English show where we speak about everything under the sun, the major goal of this show is to help you improve your listening skills and of course, learn something new. My name's Katya. I'm your host. And today with me.
Yeah. A little bit of changes today. There are only three of us instead of four. So let's see how that goes. But first of all, what are you doing, guys? What's up? What new? What's shaking?
Everything is like normal. Spring is coming. Yeah. We are happy.
Oh, God. Yeah. The sunlight
The sunlight. Oh, god. Finally.
Wake up and see the sun. It's like it's on a whole different level. A whole new level.
So. But you have also told us some news Ugur that you have cut out coffee...
Oh, yeah, Yeah, that's... Yeah, it's... It's the kind of news... I just.
It's big news. In my life that would be huge news.
In my case, it's the kind of.... Yeah, it's half of my person...
It's been, it's been two weeks.
Two weeks? Oh... how are you feeling?
I'm alright. I'm alright.
Are you feeling homicidal?
Okay. I'm just. I'm just trying to hold that demon inside... I'm not going to release it. All right?
Not here, please. Not on camera.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We are air, we're on.
Be safe here you know. What about you, Natalie? How are you doing?
Yeah, I'm pretty good, as always. I would say.
Yeah, they, I, you know kinda... doing that because we've just discussed accents before the podcast, so, you know. So guys, and we are here today to talk about cuisine and food. And as usual we have the main part of the podcast, but we also have the aftershow. And normally, you know, in the aftershow we discuss some sort of more personal things, something that does not go in the main part.
And if you're listening in the after... if you want to listen and if you're interested in the aftershow, you can check it out in our Private Telegram chat. This is also where we post vocabulary lists, some videos and so on, so you can find a lot of interesting stuff there that will make your English learning journey more useful and more fun. But actually I've got a little announcement that today since the topic is cuisine and food in our aftershow. We're going to try some unusual snacks from different countries. We've got some from Japan. From Korea. Yeah, I got some. I went crazy in the store really. So, yeah. Stay with us for the aftershow to see what it was like.
So, and since we're talking about cuisine and food, of course, the expected question that I'm going to ask first is what are the traditional dishes in everyday life? So in Turkey, in Russia, I can say a little bit about the U.S..
Daily food that people consume everyday?
Yeah, but something like lo... Is there anything local that probably is not that widespread or cannot be found in other countries that you eat?
Let's say we can start with, let's say breakfast. So what is a normal Turkish breakfast?
A normal Turkish breakfast is another level of eating experience. So you have different kinds of cheese. Different...
Yeah, like five or six different kinds of cheese. Like a cottage cheese, like cheddar. But Turkish cheddar. Like white cheese, like feta cheese, Turkish feta cheese and everything. And... It's minimum four or five. And you have like olives, green, black and different types of course, like minimum three types in a traditional Turkish breakfast.
Like this one. But yeah you can fill this table with the breakfast items in a way. Yeah.
So wait if there is cheese and olives, that means there must be something that goes on.
No, no, no. If you have a bread and as a regular Turkish person, if you're having your breakfast you need a bread to eat all those cheese and olives.
You can just spread the cheese on the bread.
And you you have your tea. Turkish tea.
Oh yeah. What do you call these? Because the cup is kind of it's shaped in a certain way.
Yeah. Which means thin waist.
Ince belli. Yeah. It's also traditional Turkish tea cup or tea glass.
I actually got some. You know I've been to Turkey I've decided to buy some.
That one is mostly used in the breakfast. So it's kind of a classic traditional thing and we have lots of jams, we have lots of marmalade.
You know what I picture and just tell me if I picture it correctly. You know, it's not just a lot of cheeses, but I imagine them in those little plates, you know, that are not like big, huge boards of plates or something. But those little really nice, cute looking ones. And you have a little bit...
Yeah, you're right. You're correct. You're correct.
I love the aesthetic of that.
And think about the spread all over the table.
Sounds fantastic. Wait. What about coffee?
Cause we are used to, you know, thinking that breakfast should be associated with coffee and accompanied with coffee. You know, to wake up, to energise.
In Turkey we are having our breakfast with tea, but after we finish the breakfast, we drink the Turkish coffee after the breakfast.
Because Turkey has a fantastic coffee culture don't you? Yeah, it's known for coffee.
Not for me anymore but Turkish coffee, yeah...
But I mean it's still part of a huge part of the culture. Okay. Oh, wow. I love the way it sounds. Actually, I feel like I could fit.
What can we say about Russian breakfast?
Some kind of porridge probably.
Yeah. Yeah. Buckwheat maybe.
I'm sorry. For me, it sounds like more of a dinner, sort of thing, yeah..
It's a bucketwheat with milk. It's like a dinner thing.
Yeah. Yeah. It's like, for me. Yeah. Guys, we need. We need somebody to comment on that, please. But, yeah, I would say oatmeal is a very common thing. Something like apples and so on and so forth. And normally you cook it just for once, you know, in a little pot or something.
Fried eggs, maybe you know, with some vegetables, maybe.
You know, I've noticed that we don't...
It's not traditional though.
We don't have anything that would be said, you know, like, oh, this is so common in there because I see people having absolutely different types of breakfast here. So let's say a lot of people are into oatmeal. Some people are into like omelettes, eggs, stuff. For some people it's nothing. You know, they just don't have breakfast at all, which I can not imagine.
Me neither. Actually, I can't understand that.
Okay, alright guys. I'm sorry.
You can probably. You never have breakfast?
I don't eat breakfast. I don't know. I don't like eating...
You just don't feel hungry in the morning?
It's also atmosphere, it's like you set up, you know.
Okay. I miss American breakfast because apart from the typical scrambled eggs, you know, the toasts and so on, there are also things there were things in my dining hall that I love, which is tater tots. It's some sort of...
Tater tots. So tater tots, it's... Imagine like, Oh my God. Okay, it's like a chicken nugget, but made with potatoes. So it's like kind of crispy.
Oh yeah like a croquette. That's true. So it's, like, crispy on the outside. Nice and soft on the inside. Made with potatoes.
Oh, God. Yeah. And one more thing there are so... I miss so much is bagels. Oh, my God. Cheese and lox bagel. The traditional Jewish way, I'd say to have breakfast as well. Or some sort of... Oh, my God. Yeah. Pumpernickel bagel with sausage and egg. So and the thing is that..
Yeah, yeah. The lox. The lox. And the thing is that we do have bagels here in Russia in some coffee shops and everything. But what makes them different is that in Russia they seem to be just baked. But in the U.S., they're not. They are boiled first for a couple of minutes and then they're baked, which makes them... Which gives them, you know, this sort of gooey, doughy texture. Literally. First thing that I eat when I come to the U.S. every single time is bagels, tater tots. And since I've been living in Massachusetts, that was also don't want to sound posh, but lobster.
I mean, you can't find it anywhere here because, you know, living in Siberia, we're like thousand a thousand kilometres away from any sort of ocean.
We have frozen? But I don't think so.
And it would cost, I dunno thousands and thousands.
No, no, no. So yeah. So what about any other, let's say, dishes that are cooked for different celebrations? So something typical, something national.
Yeah. A lot of salads in Russia, obviously.
Salads and pastry in Turkey too.
Baklava or börek. Like samsa in Russia.
Like meat, like a meat pie. So if you like, you can put the meat if you like, you can put cheese in it like a triangle. Yeah, we call it börek.
It sounds fantastic. So what what are the occasions that you guys make it for?
For example, if you if you have a birthday and if you're celebrating with all of your family and friends. So börek, dolma. That's another chapter.
Oh, I yeah. Yeah. Well, you know I, you know, I know that actually regarding that, I know that there has been a lot of I don't want to say conflict, but, you know, ideas as to where exactly it originated. Because I know that you guys say that is from Turkey, the Balkan people in the Balkans, they're like, well, technically it also originated in the Balkans. Yeah, Russians like, well, we have something like that, but we only wrap it like....
Yeah. Armenia. Yeah. I represent the both sides of the debate. Like the Greeks say, alright dolma is our traditional food and Turkey says alright dolma is our traditional food, but I don't care. I just eat.
I love I love the topic of cuisines for that. Cause you can see the same things in many cuisines. So when people ask me, well, when I was living in the U.S. and people asked me, So what is a part of a Russian cuisine? What is it like? I said, I'm sorry to our listeners who might disagree with me, but remember, this is just my opinion. So and it doesn't make it wrong if it's different from yours. But I say there is no such thing as Russian cuisine. There's just not. Why? We have borsch.
But don't you think it's...?
It's Ukrainian slash Polish. So there we have some sort of some people say we have, let's say like вареники. I'm like Ukrainian/Polish. So and nearly everything that we have originated or might have originated somewhere else. That's why and I love pointing out that Russia has more than 190 ethnicities and each of them has their own cuisine. I'm from Yakutia, so I wouldn't call it Russian cuisine because there is specific yakutia cuisine, let's say frozen raw horse liver.
Yes, yes, frozen and raw. You just like cut it in slices.
That would be interesting.
Or what is called строганина which is...
Oh... It's like Siberian thing.
That works too. Like the red one, right?
No, no, no. The white one.
So you just slice it in tiny little really thin slices..
Dip it in like pepper and salt and you eat it frozen.
It's kind of an Asian, like a Vietnamese kind because... Yeah, that would work.
So yeah, that's why I don't believe that we have like purely Russian cuisine.
Let's say so. We have a lot. But again, it's not like purely Russian.
Yeah. So which one would you tell people about?
Actually, that's funny. I think all salads or something like that.
Maybe. But for example, when I was in France and we had this, you know, we had this kind of a day of national cuisine and we had to cook, you know, some dishes. And at first I wanted to cook, you know, пироги. Yeah. With...
What is it? Charvel or something like that, you know?
Oh, yeah. I have no idea how to say it.
It's some sort of herb slash greenery that is a little bit sour.
I have no idea how to... Maybe it's something like that. I have no idea.
I think it's pure Russian.
Yeah, I think it's chavel or something like that.
Yeah, yeah. And, but then I decide to make a salad and it's винегрет, you know?
Oh, yeah. Funny that the word is traditionally from...
Exactly. It means vinegar, actually. So but...
Which does not go in the salad. Ironically.
Exactly. But I made it and people were kind of all bit suspicious at first, you know, because there's...
Of course, there was like beetroot and carrot and some other vegetables.
Peas and cucumbers, pickels and so but people liked it. So it was like vegetarian dish. Yeah.
You know what's interesting? We have this sort of Russian salad, which in Russia we call оливье, but everywhere in the world it's called Russian salad. And I saw it being made in the U.S. and I saw that. I wonder what other countries it is in. Apparently, they make it in Argentina, like the Russian salad. And I'm not talking about Russians. I'm talking about Argentinians. I was talking to a student of mine from Italy and she's like, yeah, Italians know it and they make it. The only difference is that they make it with prosciutto.
So apparently they make it in Spain, in Italy, in Argentina, in quite a lot of countries. So it's kind of spread. Yeah, but you know what's interesting? No matter what cuisine we're talking about, I'm pretty sure that absolutely, nearly, absolutely every single cuisine in the world has its sort of dumplings.
With different sort of filling. But every single culture has dumplings. And that's what I love about this world, because dumplings are amazing.
So any other traditional dishes that come to mind?
Dolma, manti. We have manti like pelmeni.
We also have that. We actually call them the same way. We also call them манты.
We also have буузы, which is from Buratia.
You know what is funny? You know the situation when people ask you like, so what food is popular in Russia and so on and you say чебурек and they ask you, what is it? And you say, Well, it's a dough with meat.
It's a dough with meat, yeah.
And then they say, okay, what else? And you're like самса.
So but if we think about like we also have буузы, dumplings. So what else? Беляш. And all of these things are done with meat. Absolutely all of them.
It's simple. Yeah. You just take dough. You put meat inside.
Nothing can go wrong, technically.
It will taste good anyway.
What about холодец? Do you know what that is? It's meat jelly.
It's not that bad. It can be good.
I guess I saw it. I saw that. It's like. Yeah, round kind of thing.
No, no, no, no. I'm okay with all kind of weird food, so I can. But, yeah, I would love to..
We're going to... Oh, I'm so waiting for the aftershow cause we're also going to talk about the strangest, weirdest food.
Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. I have lots of...
So what do you think about, first of all, your own cuisine? So let's say, Natalie, Russian. Ugur Turkish cuisine. Like, do you love it or do you feel just... Do you take it for granted? Like, Yeah, okay. It's there.
I can say that for breakfast. I guess I'm not that much into... Alright the Turkish breakfast is a thing, but okay, alright but ... Okay as you said like dolma, manti there are all similar kind of variations in other countries. So yeah, I can yeah, I can exclude baklava I guess.
Because it's sugar with sugar. Sugar syrup with a little bit of...
It's so tasty. There is one more dessert that is quite popular in Russia from Turkey.
Turkish delight probably.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It's so gooey. I like the way that it's so gooey and you can have so many different types of it and flavours.
With nuts, with dried fruit.
Yeah, I brought that back when I... I guess it's going to happen again. So just hang in there.
So the thing is that I have a sweet tooth.
And that's so bad because I can eat anything sugary with absolutely every meal. I can eat it like four or five times a day easily. And my doctor's like, you do understand you should not. Like but it's so difficult.
She's like, it's some sort of an addiction already. So cause I just very often I just sit and I'm like, I want something sugary. I'm ready to have, you know, like a cube of sugar, like a whole. I need my sugar.
Withdrawal syndrome. But, yeah. I have. I really have a sweet... What's funny, though, is that when I was in the U.S., I could not eat supermarket, bought cookies or some some sort of desserts.
Thery are like really sweet.
There is actually a theory about that. Do you want to hear about it?
Not that I'm asking. As a host I have some power.
Okay, I'm joking. But the thing is that there is a book which I mentioned in several podcast in the past, both the podcast about food and the podcast about sweet salt, sugar and fat, because we had a separate podcast about that. But there is a certain level which is called the Bliss Point. The Bliss point shows the level of sugar that you still find pleasant. Once you cross this level, it feels sickening. You know, you can't have it anymore. And this bliss point is different for each country. So let's say in Russia, throughout history, mostly used sugar made out of beetroot. So beet sugar, which is less sweet than what they normally use in the U.S...
Sugar cane and corn syrup these days. So that's why what they find still nice and pleasant regarding sweets is not what we would find exactly, you know, exactly pleasant regarding sweetness. So yeah, that's why I could not eat sweets over there. The only sweets I ate were the ones I bought in a Russian shop.
Oh, Sweets. Yeah. Do you have a favourite cuisine, though?
I like food. I just like food.
So you, like. I do not differentiate, you know, like, distinguish. I just like everything.
I don't like sweets. Like, don't want to hurt your feelings, but...
No, I'm good, like, the less you eat, the more I have.
Makes sense. Makes sense. But, yeah, I like, you know, like, natural food in a way. But that is good. Like, with a lot of spices. Something like that has its specific taste. That's why I don't like Chinese cuisine probably too much, because they have a lot of, you know, like, you know, these specific additives that they add like to.
Oh, they add, they add...
The soy sauce. Oyster sause.
No, no, no. There is. There is. What's it called? There is the special additives...
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That sort of thing. I know they, they call it the magic salt or something.
So the taste enhancer, something like that.
And they add it everywhere. Like you want to eat a soup and they add it there. It tastes good. But it's like too much, you know.
Too much flavour. Until you mention spices. I was going to suggest some sort of Mediterranean cuisine because they all use natural.
It's a bit bland to me I think. I mean I like all of it, but...
Oh, okay. So like too spicy not your thing. But at the same time...
I would say I like spices but no, like, you know, some of that is artificial.
I love Thai cuisine, a lot of herbs, a lot of taste. Like it's just...
The use the lemongrass as well.
Yeah. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Or soups.
We can settle down on Thai then for you.
But again, every cuisine, French cuisine. I love it, but it's like, a bit too buttery because, you know, every time you cook French food, it's like kilogram of butter at least, you know.
Which is good, but not really healthy.
You die young, but happy.
Yeah. Exactly. And that's their philosophy.
Anything Asian. Vietnamese. Thai. Japanese. On the western side, I can say Italian. And Turkish and Greek.
Oh, I would... I might sound basic, I think, but I'm all in for Italian, so all the pizza pasta and the way that it's done, you know, like, naturally not... So that's. Oh, I'm. I'm a huge fan of that, really. And, I mean, come on, I have sweet tooth. So, gelato, tiramisu, cannoli, I miss cannoli.
Only last year, we have one single restaurant, Novosibirsk, which started to make cannoli. Luckily, they're situated 10 minutes away from my home.
I feel like soon I'm coming in there like we have no cannoli anymore. You ate them all. So yeah but italian it is. I don't know much about French cuisine, though. Like, I've never tried the genuine French cuisine. So because I feel like what might be sold here under the name of French cuisine is not really French cuisine. So I would love to try it right there on the spot.
I've tried it, tried it in Novosibirsk or in Russia, but yeah, a lot of butter. Yeah, a lot of butter.
Well, I support the opinion of ah, what's her name, Julia Child. Who believe that you can't spoil a thing with butter. Yeah. So I support this opinion. I hope nobody's going to get offended by the next question. But is there a cuisine that you hate? Maybe it's just not your thing. Okay, Don't want to say hate, but just cuisine that's not your thing.
I would say Chinese probably.
But again it depends, it depends. So some things I like, for example, again dumplings, they're kinda interesting.
Yeah. Cause they're dumplings. Yeah. Me and my love for dumplings.
But again, always chemistry you know that they add into the food. Probably not a bit of a fan. What else? I think yeah just Chinese but again I kind of like it. I wouldn't say I'm really against it or something. Yeah not my thing.
You know, I have kind of the same thing because I love Chinese food, but when it's what is called white Chinese.
So when they adapt it for like people who have zero spice tolerance because I feel like I have zero spice tolerance, I can't eat anything spicy. I'm like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. And the friends who I go to like Tom Yum places with. They're like, take it Tom Yum. And you know how you can choose the level. From like, one... Yeah.
Yeah. I'm saying can I get the least spice? And I'm like, Oh, that's a little bit spicier, my friends just look at me like, are you kidding right now? I'm like, No, I'm not. I have zero spice tolerance, like when it's really spicy spicy.
But actually you can kind of grow it, you know, can develop this spice tolerance.
Yeah, you can. You can. Do I want to? That's another point.
Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. When I first came to Indonesia and I tried like, you know, different dishes there, everything was like, really spicy to me. Like I couldn't eat anything. Like even some soups which were like really plain to, you know, local taste. But then I kind of liked it. So then I went to Thailand and...
Exactly. But now I think I've burnt all my you know. Yeah. They're called like...
Yeah, exactly. And so, and now I have like I can eat really spicy food and not feel anything.
It's, you know, I love watching the videos with hot takes, you know, where celebrities... So the videos on YouTube called Hot Takes where celebrities try hot wings and some of them like take it because you're supposed to try ten or however many you can try like hot wings with different hot sauces. And most likely and more often than not, they try like take one bite and like, oh my God, milk, milk, milk. And then there is... I watched a video with Pedro Pascal and he's like, I like it, give me another one. And he ate like ten. And by the end of it..
And nothing happened to him.
He's like, Do I still have a tongue? And I'm like, That's how you know, he's Latin. He's originally from Chile. And I'm like, okay, So they'll like people from Latin America have a whole different level of like spice tolerance, just like they do in, I think, Thailand, China and so on. Yeah. Ugur, what about cuisine that is not really your thing?
I guess it's Indian. I'm not into much curry or that kind of stuff because it doesn't make sense. It's not a food, but it's a food. I don't know. I don't like it.
You just add rice and that's it.
Yeah. And I don't know... Rice... Is not that. Not that weapon of choice, I guess I even if I'm Turkish, rice is a huge part in Turkish cuisine but...
In Russian it's not.. surprisingly. We don't have a lot of dishes with rice. Potato I would say.
Yeah, I would say that our staples, our the basis is potato. That's for sure, I love Indian cuisine for naan bread. And there is one type of naan..
Garlic naan is fantastic. There is also some sweet naan bread with coconut.
Oh my God, oh my God. Although I do have one sad story with Indian cuisine because I once ordered Indian cuisine on the 30th of December, got really bad food poisoning and on the New Year's Eve I could not eat anything. It was just water, plain water. And I was celebrating that New Year alone. Just so you understand the whole misery.
You mean your water bottle.
Yeah. It was me, a dog that I was dog sitting and a bottle of water. That's it. All alone. Yes.
That's life as Sinatra says.
But since we're talking about food, let's talk about such aspect as going out. So in the culture of restaurant culture in different countries, so let's say tipping, what's the situation with tipping in Russia and in Turkey.
You usually tip. Again 10% I would say.
Is it optional or is it obligatory?
It's optional. Do you tip?
Yeah, usually I do. In restaurants. In cafes it's not common, I think.
Yeah, it's same like 10 or 15%.
It's optional, but you mostly tip when you go to a restaurant and ask for the bill, you just put a little bit more than what you need to pay.
What I love about nowadays is that you know how early it used to be only cash. So like, meaning if you wanted to tip, you had to have cash on you. But nowadays nobody uses cash. So they have that sort of digital tip. So you just scan a QR code.
Tip the carrier. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. You just do that. What is interesting that in the US they call it optional, but it's...
It is not, it is not optional. So it's kind of obligatory and it's from 15 to 25%. And technically if you don't tip because you can't do it, but you better not ever go back to that place.
So what will happen if you do come back?
I don't know. But you don't...
Well, you know the rule. Don't ever annoy somebody who has access to your food or drink.
Yeah, but no, really. They say in the U.S., there is a saying that if you can't afford tipping, just don't go out. Yeah, because people rely on this. They have less than minimum wage, so they get like $3-4 per hour. So your tips is their life.
So yeah, that's why it's kind of obligatory. So what is tricky though, is that sometimes you get the bill and you ask to split the bill and then you see... The thing is that in there in the U.S., you have, you know, your sort of bill and so on. And then below you add with a pen. You just write down how much tip you want to leave, and they charge it from your card and below on that receipt. Very often they have like say, 10% tip would be this much, 15% tip would be this much. You're like, Hey, I don't need to count. Fantastic. What they don't tell you is that if you split the bill, they write the tip for the whole bill. So you're like, oh, $15. Okay, so you, like, leave or, you know, $10-15 or whatever is written. Only then to realise that that was the tip for the whole bill. And then everybody left the same thing and you're like okay.
But it is good for the waiter.
Definitely, definitely, yeah, for the server. What about in general the quality and let's say the service because let's say in the U.S., there's one more thing. In the meantime, while you're enjoying a meal, they will come to you like four or five times asking everything good. How do you find everything? Do you enjoy everything? And you like sitting there chewing, like nodding like, really woman. Me and server.
The waiter comes and asking, Alright, would you like to have anything else or how you're, how is your food or whatever, coffee or whatever.
What so say about Russia?
They don't usually do it unless it's like a really fancy place I think.
And I love that about Russia. So you can just enjoy your thing and peace. And then when they notice that you have an empty place, they just come, you know, take it away with no questions asked.
No, they can ask actually when they pick up. Sometimes they can ask.
Did you like everything. Yeah. So I kind of... I kind of love it... That, you know, actually if you guys are into this topic of cooking, we have a whole episode devoted to restaurant culture, cooking and so on. So we had different guests back then. So which means that we talked about different experiences. So make sure to check this out. And one more thing we discussed there and we are going to discuss now is cooking versus taking out. Or rather, let's make it a little bit more expanded cooking versus takeout versus delivery, meaning when you get delivered the food, you know, in boxes with a name like breakfast, lunch dinners, you don't have to plan a whole thing. Which one are you more into?
It depends. It depends. I don't know. I can cook occasionally if I feel some special occasion.
Yeah. And if I had the correct equipment with me, I can do my signature dish.
Which is salmon... Baked salmon and potatoes with asparagus.
Alright. I don't have the equipment to just bake that all everything. And I need a kitchen like an industrial one or like, normal one.
At least a normal one. You know. An industrial one, like okay setting the... Setting the bar a little high. So let's just settle down for a normal one.
Anytime. If you provide me the space, I would love to...
Okay. I'll keep that in mind.
Yeah. Okay. And mostly a takeout.
Have you ever tried the delivery where you get delivered the whole ration?
Yeah. Yandex is cool. Yandex eats is cool. It's a cool option, but I guess we have another one. The, like, delivery club. I haven't tried that.
Yeah, it is delivery club. But the thing is that they kind of deliver food from a restaurant, right? So and you choose, let's say, okay, it's one meal or two meals. There are special services however, where you choose the calorie intake, you need any sort of dietary restrictions that you have and the amount of days. And they bring you bags with like containers. And each... Like each bag is for one day. And you have that breakfast...
It's a meal plan. Yeah, yeah.
Like a meal plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So I heard a lot of good reviews about that because especially if you tell all your dietary restrictions in the first, like in the first place before ordering or your calorie intake or what you like dislike. Might save so much time, especially now in our, you know, fast-paced world where time is so precious.
Have you tried it actually?
I would love to. I would love to. I do not know many companies that do that here in Novosibirsk, but I would love to kind of, you know.. Well, the thing is that I would love to, but at the same time, I love cooking.
I enjoy it so much. For me, cooking like twice a day if I have the time is absolutely not a problem. I love it.
Well, you know what? It was kind of challenging, though, because last month or like a month and a half ago on the 9th of February, there was a gas explosion next to my building. So we had no gas for one month. So which means that we had to get creative because I only had a multi-cooker and an air fryer so I could not boil things basically. So I had to be creative and actually cook something. So that was challenging. But I can say that I unlocked a whole new level of creativity.
Actually, when I was looking in Thailand, I didn't have, you know, any devices, you know, to cook any equipment. Stove. I didn't have it.
Yeah, I didn't have anything, just a kettle. So and then I bought, you know, some kind of like a multi-cooker.
Yeah. But they were, you know, different setups, I would call them. So there was a grill, there was like kind of a saucepan, there was a frying pan and so on. So and you could change it actually. Yeah. And then I was kind of, you know, experimenting with that like what I can do actually, with that.
But no stove. Oh my goodness. How long did you live there?
So in that apartment it was like three months I think. Something like that. Yeah. But again, in Thailand, the culture of takeaway food, it's like...
So it's not that more expensive from cooking?
Not at all. I think it's cheaper.
Okay. Oh, wow. Oh, that's interesting.
You can get a whole meal for like a hundred rubels.
Yeah, like Tom Yum soup or again, noodles. I mean, good noodles, not instant one.
Rice, noodles with prawns or whatever.
Oh yeah that's, yeah, yeah.
So that's why there's basically no necessity to cook then.
Exactly. Unless you want to eat something, you know. Healthier probably. Like, for example, at first, like first I don't know six, seven months in Thailand. I was basically, you know, getting takeaways.
Of course, cooking a little bit with this device, but mainly it was takeaway and eating out. But then I decided to like, you know, eat a bit healthier.
So and I started cooking by myself. So I was like, you know, boiling chicken. And I don't know chicken breast, you know, and like, buckwheat even, actually.
So all this stuff, you know, it was like, really, really healthy. And then yeah, so I had... At this moment, I already had like a proper kitchen, like with the oven even, you know, and stuff like that.
And magic happened then. Yeah.
Yeah. I know that in a lot of countries like Thailand, Korea, not sure about Japan. They have rice cookers everywhere.
Exactly. It's the first thing you get when you, like, move into apartment. Indonesia especially.
And ten kilograms of rice. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bag.
Huge bags. Like 50 kilograms. I don't know.
I remember when I was going to a Korean supermarket in, in the U.S. because that was the, that was the place to get fruit and veggies because in American supermarkets they kind of left much to be desired. So and yeah, and I remember seeing those huge bags of rice because people normally buy that in bulk. That's, that's true. That's true. So what, what could be the disadvantages of take out though? So because it's fast in places like Thailand it's also much cheaper sometimes. But what can be the disadvantages?
You can't control what is put in your food. Like for example a lot of oil.
Also that. I have never had any troubles with, you know, food poisonings.
Me neither being in Vietnam.
Within the several years that you lived there, you never had a food poisoning?
Yeah. In the aftershow, I'm going to explain some, like, extremes and even that. I didn't... Prank me..
Yeah. So, guys, you know, now you. You just have to stay for the aftershow. Just have to. Just put in the Telegram search BigAppleChatBot, or go to our website to find the link and you'll get there. You know, I'm having a feeling that there might be some interesting stuff.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's see.
So we have a couple of minutes left and what we're going to do with you guys is has a little bit of a blitz, some sort of questionnaire. I'm just going to ask you a question and you'd say quickly, simple. Yes. No. Or just answer, you know, in a short way.
Pineapples on pizza. Yes or no?
No. More no than yes. I would say.
Keep yourself together Katya.
Come on. This, this is food. You need to just eat and feel full. And pineapple is a fruit. You eat fruit after the food.
What do you mean about tomatoes?
I mean, they are also kind of fruit.
Oh, that's technicalities.
Shredded a little bit. Not like a whole slice...
What if you shred pineapples?
Not necessarily actually. It's usually sour.
Not for me. Sorry. Don't try to convince me.
No, I'm not... I'm just saying I'm not a fan of this.
So Katya and her sweet tooth.
Oh come on. Okay, let's go.
Ugur is like... It was nice knowing Katya. Have a good life. Yeah.
Let's see. In another life.
Yeah. A question to be hated for by Italians. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it up?
I mean, who doesn't? So if you cut up your spaghetti, it was nice knowing you as well.
That is strange. Yeah. Like, how can you even...?
Click, click, click. You know. Oh, yeah. No. Okay. Cola or Pepsi?
Cola. But I don't drink any.
And I don't drink... Cola. Coca-Cola.
I've never liked it. Like, once...
I used to... What about you?
I don't really drink any sort of soda, but...
Oh, I love Dr. Pepper though. Yeah, so. But I drink it, like, twice, once a year or something. Yeah, but I have to, I have to come clean.
I didn't notice any difference between Cola or Pepsi.
One is more sugary and...
Like, maybe if I have like two cups, one having Cola, one having Pepsi and I have to try them one by one.
Yeah, maybe I would be able to at least notice the difference. But normally I do not feel the difference. Like, no...
Alright, let's say Sprite and then just end of story.
Then you'll probably feel the difference.
Have you noticed how sprite from McDonalds is the most... The fizziest drink possible? Really. If you ever tried it from there it feels like it's getting through your teeth, it's melting everything away.
I haven't drunk it for a...
And you burp immediately after that. Yeah.
Years, ten years maybe. Seriously.
It's really, it's actually really good for cleaning. You know, really when you have some sort of rust. Put a fizzy drink and they... Kind of, you know, all these bubbles.
Yeah. It's because of the... Yeah of the gas.
There is a I do not know whether it's a myth or not, but they say that in some countries police officers use fizzy drinks to clean blood.
But again not because of the chemicals, but it is because of the gas and...
Are burgers and hot dogs sandwiches?
Yeah, but you have a bun, a filling and a bun, so technically, it makes it a sandwich.
Yeah, but what about the subway? Saab, then what is that?
All right, let's go. Okay. No.
No. Okay. No offence, but no, it's a sub. A sub? Oh, well, a sub is a technically also sandwich is has two layers of bread and something in between. Although I wouldn't say that burgers and hot dogs are sandwiches. It's like a whole separate...
It's like dumplings, you know.. in different cultures.
How do you open a banana from the tip or from the base?
What is the tip and what is the base?
That's a good way too actually, you can..
No. Are you serious right now?
No, I'm just kidding. I'm just peel it on top.
So from... So let's say the base is where you have this sort of a thing, but...
So you, you clean it from the stem.
I do it from the top, from the tip.
I used to do that. But with a stem it's much more comfortable just to bite it or something.
The thing is that it's more convenient for me to do it from the tip. And sometimes when I can't really, you know, like, take it off.
I just cut it. l give it like a bite and then, like... Open it out. What comes first? Cereal or milk?
Unanimously. Cereal. If you're putting milk first, it's a little bit gives a psychopathic bias.
It's kind of a disorder. Yeah.
So how... What do you say? How many followers are we going to lose after this blitz?
Right. Your preference. Yeah.
So but it's so interesting. Yeah. How different people do things differently and so on. Alrighty. Well, I hope, guys, that was interesting for you both, for the listeners and for you, my dear guests. So make sure to stay with us for the aftershow, where we're going to talk about the worst, the strangest food that we've ever tried, and try some snacks from different countries.
Also, if you find it interesting, you know, to watch videos or listen to podcasts where people try different food, we have a whole episode of a podcast where Ken from the Philippines and Michael from Nigeria, try Russian snacks. You can find it on our website, BigAppleSchool.com/podcasts. And the name of the episode, if I'm not mistaken, is snacks. Yep, just as simple as that. So guys, and make sure to leave some comments. We're always there to talk to you, you know, interested in what you think about the podcast and everything with you. So stay tuned for further episodes.
