chapotraphouse @hexbear.net Great_Leader_Is_Dead @hexbear.net 7 mo. ago

Lunch from a factory cafeteria in Riga, Latvia, USSR, 1986

Is that sour cream in the soup on the top right... or mashed potatoe?

72 comments

And American factory workers were eating ham sandwiches or McDonald's lmao
- I can assure you they still do.
  
  That's if they even get a lunch.
this is fake everyone knows the ussr has no food its all plastic and they took th photo to trick people into thinking they have food.
- I remember once on r/oldschoolcool someone uploaded a picture of their dad in the 70s Soviet Union grilling (proving that transcends nationality and political ideology) on a beach and all the comments were saying it was fake because gommunism no food, it was peak reddit.
  
  I dated a girl from a former Eastern Bloc country and she once showed me some pics of her grandpa camping somewhere in the Carpathian's with her grandma and dad as a kid My sister was SHOCKED when she saw them cuz she didn't realize people went CAMPING IN GOMMUNIST RUZZIA!
- Ah yes the North Korea meal plan, fake food to fool tourists from Vice.
  
  I'd feed Vice "reporters" fake food too. Honestly completely understandable and common DPRK W.
- It's all Potemkin Canapes
borscht on the bottom left? fuck me that's a great looking lunch, like the kind of thing you'd pay a lot of money for nowadays at a fancy overpriced restaurant
- Looks like an above average cafeteria meal. Apparently it cost like 50cents in USSR money.
  
  sure but look at the intentionality, you know? each element is arranged in a way that makes it look like the sound it made being served was something other than "plop" lol it looks good because it doesn't look like it was treated like slop
Clearly made with care, not just gross slop. Reminds me of this report from the CIA that Soviet diet was more nutritious.

FULL TEXT:

American and Soviet citizens eat about the same amount of food each but the Soviet diet may be more nutritious.

According to a CIA report released today (8 Jan, 1983)) both nationalities may be eatng too much for good health.

The CIA drew no conclusions about the nutritional makeup of the Soviet and American diets but commonly accepted U.S. health views suggest the Soviet diet may be slightly better.

According to Central Intelligence Agency, an average Soviet citizen consumes 3 280 calorious a day, compared to 3 520 calories for the American.

The average daily calorie intake in teh Soviet Union is: grain products and potates 44%; sugar 13%; dairy and eggs 11%; fats and oils 17%; meat and fish 8%; and other products 7%.

The american consumes daily: grain and potatoes 26%,; sugar 17%; dairy and eggs 12%; fats and oils 18%; meat and fish 21%; and other products 6%.

Americans eat more fish and more sugar, more dairy products and eggs, and more fats and oils and less grain the average Soviet citizen, and consumes more calories.

Generally held nutrional standards suggest individuals need fewer calories, less meat, less sugar and more grain to stay fit.
- Wait how did the USSR citizens eat more gain than the Americans? Did they all get big spoons?
  
  Stalin's ONE BIG SCOOP was redistributed to Party members only.
  
  Stalin regurgitated the partially digested grain straight into soviet citizens' mouths to ensure they grew up big and strong. The sources saying that he consumed all that grain himself all just go back to Goebbels
Incredibly oppressive to people who don't enjoy soup.
- have they considered differently abled people who cannot easily hold a spoon? no. this is ableist. this is why reconstituted meat and preserved veg are the only things we should serve to children, tankie
- Its interesting how some cultures have such different texture profiles for their food
  
  America: CRONNNNNCH
  
  Japan: Wow so smooth, so slimy
  
  India: Imagine not eating stew. Are you fucking insane?
- I think in Eastern Europe if you say you don't like soup they throw you off a cliff Spartan style as a form of euthanasia.
It would be so cool getting to feed my fellow workers tasty and nutritious food assembled with care every day.
- And not being paid starvation wages to do it
Looks good. I posted on here on my old account a dream I had about running a cafeteria like this in America. It'd be a coop, you could subscribe instead of paying per meal, it'd be half a grill with a predictable menu and half a cafeteria with a different menu every day, with a sandwich stand for subs and chips to go for those who couldn't sit and stay a while. And it would be decorated wall to wall with Communist propaganda posters.
- As a cook, this is my dream.
- Sounds kinda like my college cafeteria aside from the posters and the pricing structure. It would be a cool idea.
- A big part of why restaurants cost so much is because there's a wide range of things that are cooked to order in single portions. If there were larger batches cooked, a more limited number of options at one time, less meat and other expensive ingredients, and it was largely self-serve, the cost could be cut by well over half. As a bonus, it would remove much of the choice anxiety in menus.
  
  I can't speak for all-you-can-eat buffets but the efficiency aspect is a large part of what makes college cafeterias viable, although those are basically the same thing.
  
  Yeah that's definitely how it saves money in my head. I also remember when I was young sometimes my mom would take me to the chow hall - capitalist military doing the same thing because it works.
  
  Automats were pretty neat
Yim yum. Tasty treats. Would eat
- Tasty treat
  
  USSR confirmed Lib!
I saw a documentary show about a Russian prison a few years ago and they had real cream (for their coffee), not cremora, real plates and silverware, not styrofoam and “plasticware,” etc.
Looks like a dessert of some kind?
- So like, custard? What's it sitting in thought? Everything else I recognize.
  
  It's pudding with a whipped cream topping
  
  Kinda looks like a floating island? It's meringue floating in custard
  
  Applesauce
I nearly cried over the loss of USSR today and I now just may.
From when it was posted on MarxistCulture, this is apparently 0.6 rubles. Can be paid in cash or taken in credit and deducted from the end of month salary. 0.6 rubles in the official conversion at that time would be about 0.8 dollars, or ~2.5 in today's dollars.
- Fucking hell, we lost the cold war. All of us. The whole planet lost the cold war.
- I want to make a joke but I'm so depressed about America
god damn this looks gourmet
The rose on the top left. You can tell they liked their job
Dang it, I just ate but now I want soup.
Banger of a post, bless you Great_Leader
This reminds me if anyone is ever in Poland you have to visit The Red Hog. It is a communist themed restaurant and the food is so good. I want to go back.
Shchi? my dad used to make it when i was little and the broth and sour cream looks very similar, tho it lacks a lot of the other components he would throw in (meat, veggies, etc)
mmmm, half a cup of sour cream floating in a bowl of piss. my favourite!
- I think it's some kind of pudding or dessert with regular cream. May or may not be piss flavoured though.
  
  Looks like vanilla pudding with whipped cream on top.
  
  it kinda looked frothy to me but i think its actually gelatinous yeah
Top right? Applesauce and sour cream? Best guess as nothing else looks like a dessert.
I gave in and made soup today

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