What to Eat in Russia in 2026: The Best Food and Drink

Russian food is preserved, fermented, and warming in the way of a cuisine built for the world's largest country and its seven-month winters. Borscht — the beet and cabbage soup with pork, smetana (sour cream), and dill that the Ukraine-Russia debate over provenance cannot diminish as food — is the defining Slavic dish. Pelmeni (small meat dumplings, boiled and eaten with butter, sour cream, or vinegar, made in winter batches and stored frozen on the balcony in the pre-refrigerator tradition) are the Siberian contribution to Russian food culture. Blini (thin yeast pancakes eaten with smoked salmon, red caviar, or the sour cream and honey combination) represent the pre-Lent Maslenitsa celebration food that has become year-round. The kvass tradition (fermented rye bread drink, available from barrel trucks in Soviet-era cities and now from craft brewers), the Georgian food influence from the long Russian presence in the Caucasus (khachapuri and shashlik are fully absorbed into Russian food culture), and the Stolichnaya and Beluga vodka traditions complete a picture that sushi delivery to Moscow apartments in 2024 complicates considerably. Take your time.