Seafood

Far Eastern diet is heavy on seafood, not just crabs, that Russians generally consider gourmet, along with shrimps, mussels, true whelks, surf clams, anadars and oysters. Oyster lovers mainly live in the country’s west, while Vladivostok residents enjoy sea cucumbers, squids and scallops. Scallops may be farmed on Russky Isle, for instance, but locals will always prefer the wild variety, and they can tell the difference between the two with their eyes closed. Sea urchins, which have been driving Moscow mad for several years now, are best from the colder waters of Sakhalin and Kamchatka rather than Primorye.