So what brought you to Russia?
What is the barbecue culture like there? Do they like the same meats and cuts as Americans, or do they have some other favorites?
I was born and raised in the southern parts of USSR, what is now called Uzbekistan. Went to Russia as there weren't too many good job options back home.
I guess Russians learned to grill meat a while ago mostly from nations of Caucuses (Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijans...) and Central Asia, mostly Uzbeks, at least I like to think that
In Uzbekistan people love meat. Not many vegetarians here and I know both of them
Uzbeks have quite rich and ancient traditions of cooking meat in all sorts of ways, including low and slow in big clay pits, large cast iron bowls as well as hot and fast, mostly with skewers. The equipment for the later is usually SUPER simple, 5 sheets of thin metal welded together on 4 legs, in goes the charcoal and that's it. But if the cook is skilled, the result is pretty amazing. The most popular meat here is lamb, but people also eat chicken. Pork is popular among Russian speaking population and part of Uzbek population who aren't very religious, for obvious reasons religious Muslim people don't eat pork, but you can still find it here. Uzbekistan is predominantly Islamic, but quite secular, thank God
Cuts are quite different to Americans, but steaks are getting more and more popular, I heard the first Weber store opened last year in Uzbekistan
In Russia, especially Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and other large cities, Weber stores are plentiful, there are quite a few people cooking meat American style, steaks and burgers, chicken mostly, as other US style cuts are sometimes very difficult to find and you have to go to the butcher and ask exactly how you need them, as the usual cuts are different. I find high quality meat, like Prime brisket costs a lot compared to US. But vast majority of people still eat meat on skewers or on such things with handles over charcoal filled metal boxes like this.
