I've never been able to afford Johnnie Walker Blue, though I am partial to the Black variety. Russians, though, seem to have no problem affording it. The land of vodka and harsh winters is now the biggest market for the world's priciest Scotch whisky according to the Financial Times.

Vodka still accounts for more than 90 per cent of the country's spirits sales, largely because Russians are not used to the taste of whisky or gin. Despite this barrier sales of costly libations have been rising largely due to the populations increased wealth.

Last year Russia became the first European country to import the "King George V" edition of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which can go for up to $1,000. That's quite a markup over the everyday version, which sells for a mere $180 a bottle.

What did you do to mark Victory Day this year? Well, some members of the US Navy and the Russian naval force got together for a friendly sandwhich competition. According to the BBC, sailors from the USS Stetham, which is visiting the Russian port of Vladivostok, battled their Russian colleagues in a tasty challenge.

Turns out a Russian won for best tasting sandwhich, while an American won for most creative presentation. More importantly, everyone got a welcome party with traditional Russian food and vodka. The American winner got a bottle of vodka and handed out USS Stetham hats and sweatshirts.

Pepsi Co is already a soft drink powerhouse with a global footprint. The soda maker has production outlets and sub brands in most countries around the world. Now Pepsi Co is expanding into the Russian juice market.

The multi national company is spending $1.4 billion on about 75% ownership of Russia's largest juice maker, JSC Lebedyansky. This deal doesn't include Lebedyansky's baby food or mineral water divisions. Nope, Pepsi just wants the juice, thanks.

The deal has to be be given regulatory clearances from the government and the current shareholders will have to approve the spin off of the two rejected divisions of the Russian company. Also, Pepsi Co will have to offer to buy the rest of the shares of Lebedyansky from shareholders, according to Russian law. Other than that, Pepsi is in the clear to expand into the growing juice market to its heart's content.

After a long, hard workout, women just want to settle down to a nice refreshing salad and a glass of vodka. That's the scene that one vodka manufacturer in Russia is trying to sell to the upwardly mobile ladies of the country. The vodka, which comes in lime, vanilla, almond and original flavors, is being heavily marketed to women, in an attempt to convince them that they deserve a vodka designed especially for them.

This is concerning Russian doctors, as alcoholism is rampant in Russian. There are 2.5 million registered alcoholics in the country, but experts estimate that the real number of alcoholics in that country is closer to 10 percent of the nation's population. So far, sales of the Ladies Vodka have been brisk, but what does that mean for the health of that country's women? I guess when it comes to sales and marketing, the bottom line is always more important than the health line.

[via The Morning News]

This week, the Los Angeles Times Food section touches on every corner of the world:

• Zakuski is the Russian version of tapas, made just for vodka. The recipes are Spinach Pkhali, a dip, Salad Olivier, Quick Khachapuri (Georgian cheese pie), Eggs stuffed with caviar, and Smoked salmon and shiitakes on toast.
• From Japanese cuisine, there is shiso, with recipes for Broiled citrus with shiso, Italian tuna and shiso sandwich, and Angel hair pasta with fresh shiso-herb mix.
• On the restaurant scene, SIV goes Italian and gives Melograno two stars (**), while Linda Burum adds Ecuadorean at El Caserio in Silver Lake.

By now some readers of Midnight Snack have come to think of me as the food blogger who cried weird. But I'm pretty sure the product whose package you see here is one of the stranger things I've eaten at midnight or any other time. Sure It looks like a candy bar, but according to the incredibly tiny print on the back, it's actually a "Biologically Active Food Supplement <<Hematogenka Vitamin>>. The fact that it was "biologically active," came as a relief; the last few Russian food supplements I bought have been biologically inert. Actually that's a lie, I've never had a Russian food supplement before this one, and after tasting it, I don't think I'll be buying another one any time soon.

When I tore open the festive packaging, which featured an image of a mutant man-alligator, I saw five individually wrapped morsels. I unwrapped one of the dark brown chunks and popped it in my mouth. It had a slightly granular texture and supersweet taste that reminded me of my dear mother's oatmeal cookie dough before she added the oats. It all makes sense given that the bizarre bar's ingredients are: sugar, molasses, complete condensed milk with sugar, fat lecithin, salt, hemoglobin, mixture of vitamins (E-10 mg.,B11.4 mg., B6-2 mg., PP -18 mg., C-60mg.). Reading a little further I learned that "Hematogenka provides a reserve for feeding with iron." Against my better judgment I popped another chunk of the brown mystery bar into my mouth. Shortly thereafter I brushed my teeth and threw the rest of the nasty thing out.

When I read that my mystery bar contained hemoglobin, I began to think of it as a PowerBar for vampires who've awoken feeling peckish. However a quick web search revealed that such bizarre supplement-snacks are eaten by Russians. Has anyone out there ever heard of hemoglobin bars or had the pleasure of eating one?

Sure Fabergé eggs are beautiful, bejewelled and intricate as all hell, but you when you bite into them they really hurt your teeth. Perhaps the surreal sculpted cakes from Zhanna, a St. Petersburg baker are informed by the same passion that fueled the eggmaker to the Tsars.

Lord knows they're certainly detailed enough. Among the 50-plus intricate cakes pictured on English Russia are numerous structures, including bridges, cottages, a kitchen, a Pizza Hut and the Eiffel Tower. I'm not quite sure who Zhanna's clientele is but, based on the eye chart and mouth cakes, I'm guessing it includes eye doctors and dentists.

Many of the cakes sport distinctly American imagery including a blue Reebok sneaker, a Big Mac and numerous depictions of stacks of $100 bills. [via Boing Boing]
See the jump for a few more of these insanely creative cakes.

Russkij Avangard has produced an gorgeous, award winning, Christmas package for its Fairy Tale brand ultra-premium Russian vodka. The extremely ornate, two level, stiff paper carton is decorated in an intricate, flowers and vines scroll work print, in multi-colors and embossing, with cut out arched windows. It captures a theatrical and magical theme as a showcase to present the bottle within, glimpsed through the ornate windows. The elaborate bottle makes the Christmas tale come complete with a glass Christmas tree housed within. To open the carton you twist the top level to unlock it and so letting the bottle out of its enchanted edifice. I haven't tried this spirit but this looks and sounds like a great holiday present for the vodka lover on your list. As of this time I am not sure where it is available but will update this as soon as I do.

A few months ago, I posted about the debate that several vodka producing countries are having over what should and shouldn't be called vodka. An article in today's New York Times picks up the story. Basically, certain countries, including Finland, Sweden and Poland, contend that for something to be called vodka, it must be distilled from either potatoes or certain grains, not from things like grapes or maple syrup. These countries are seeking labeling restrictions for these "non-traditional" vodkas. BBC News reported that such restrictions could affect up to two thirds of all the vodka currently produced in non-Baltic EU countries. The NYT article also points out that vodka's history and original ingredients are up for debate, citing possible Russian, Polish, Italian and Arabian origins that may have included plums, apples or grapes.

I'll blame it on the time of the year, but the first thing that I thought when I heard about the garlic-flavored vodka from Russian distillery Vodochnaya Artel "YAT" was that it must be designed to keep vampires away. Why else would you want to drink it? As it turns out, the garlic vodka is part of a new line of strongly flavored "bitter nastoykas" from the company, which has also released a horseradish-flavored vodka.

The spirits are supposed to be served with food, enhancing the flavor of the dishes. The horseradish "fits in well with meat dishes, for instance jellied tongue or herring seasoned with spring onions" and the garlic, which actually contains natural garlic, "will warm you and keep you off cold."

If these two flavors aren't exactly appealing to you, and you don't have any vampires that you want to ward off using the garlic vodka, the company also makes honey and cornbread flavored vodkas that sound like they would be more appealing to a general audience.

[via Bottle Watch]

Yep. To mark Moscow's 859th birthday on September 2, a team of 150 Russian cooks has baked a giant pizza model of the city. Even at a a scale of 1:50,000,000, the pizza is a whopping 22 square meters.

According to Alexei Kasin of Pizza Fabrika, the pizza "is made of 300 individual pieces, and according to the requirements for the (Russian) Book of Records, we entirely cover and cook each piece with cheese so that the surface is ideal.'' The pizza features a replica of key landmarks of the city, including the towers of the Kremlin. The pizza makers used canned corn for the streets, and food-colored mayonnaise for water.

Hey, if people can put kimchee on a pizza, there's nothing wrong with blue mayo!

An elderly Russian woman almost lost a tooth when she bit into her favorite candy bar last week. But it wasn't an errant bit of walnut shell that she found inside the chocolate-coated treat, it was a diamond wedding ring.

At first Elena Otpushchennikova thought she had won a prize from the local candy factory. After finding out that no such contest existed she decided to track down the owner of the gold ring. She quickly concluded that the ring must have slipped off someone's finger while the candy was being made. Rather than publicly announce that she found it she went to the factory to find the owner.

Soon after learning that one of the women there was a newlywed she was giving the ring back to Tatiana. It seems that Tatiana, who'd been married for only two weeks, brought the ring to work to show off to her co-workers. For some reason the whole incident sounds like fodder for a Russian version of I Love Lucy.

Heinz is coming to Russia in an effort to wrest market share away from Baltimor. America's most popular ketchup is synonymous with the condiment. So is Russia's.

Baltimor, which takes its name from the words for Baltic Sea, is associated with the word ketchup by 81 percent of the Russian population. And Russians are ketchup crazed, consuming more than three pounds annually. They use it on meat, fish, eggs and dumplings, among other things.

Now that Heinz has bought a majority stake in a St. Petersburg food manufacturer that's a major player in the world of condiments it has its work cut out.

Baltimor offers 15 varieties of ketchup. These range from the cayenne and chili-laced Ajica to Winter Garden, a sweet and sour ketchup with prunes. In case your wondering, Winter Garden is recommended for pizza, pelmeni, pasta and potato fries. Mmm...prune pizza.

Zurich-based chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut recently announced plans to open a new $20 million factory in Russia early next year, according to a company press release. The plant, to be built near Moscow, will employ about 70 people and have a production capacity of 25,000 tons. Barry Callebaut is already the largest chocolate importer to Russia, so putting a new factory there was a logical decision, according the chocolate-maker's CEO Patrick De Maeseneire. The company's press release goes on to predict that Russian chocolate consumption will top that of the U.K. by 2009. Barry Callebaut was formed 10 years ago through the partnership of Belgium's Callebaut and France's Cacao Barry. In 2003, the company also acquired American candy company Brach's Confections Holding, Inc.