The Washington times., 1935-01-04
RUSSIANS EAT.
IN LUXURY IF .
THEY CAN PAY


exceedingly Well in MoScot0,
DriteS H. r. KntcEerbocEer, inter-
national NewS SerUice foreign cor
respondent, in the fourth article
of his Russian series on "Dtctntor-
ship UerSuS Democracy"
By H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
copyright. 1888 by International News
Service. Reproduction in whole or
part forbidden.)
MOSCOW, Jan. 4 Q.N.S0
Forty men waited in line to enter
the restaurant. They waited to
wade through rubbish to a filthy
table and there enjoy a plate OF
cabbage boiled without a trace
of fat, a gray pile of grits with
neither butter nor margarine,
and a herring dried hard enough
to drive a nail.
The meal was filled in with
stacks of black bread. 1t was
topped off with a little puddle
of unSpeakable treacle.
That's In 1880
That was a meal your cores
pondent ate here in 1880. That
was the picture in every restaurant
for Muscovites four years ago.
That meal was the best that any.
body not a foreigner could buy.
Today an eight-piece band
plays in that same restaurant, and
1t alternates with gypsy singers.
On the menu is beef and mutton
and pork, and salmon and stur-
geon, and vegetables and salad.
At the table next to us young
Russian, obviously a "shock troop"
worker out to spend his extra earn
ings, was slowing the food away.
First he had for Zakuska, a big
dish Of salad from the crabs IN
the Sea of Okhotsk which are one
ground Of dispute between Japa-
neSe and Soviet fishermen.
As Gypsies Sing
Then he listened to a round Of
Gypsy choruses, and ordered a
roast chicken. Leisurely he fin
ished off the bird, and asked for
q meat stew.
While waiting for it he de-
manded quickly a dish of sliced
salmon, and managed to toss that
down with the help Of his second
bottle of wine. He helped his di.
gestion by standing up and keep
ing time to the dancing gypsy girl,
so that by time the stew came ne
was ready for it.
The stew finished, he ordered a
fruit salad, polished that off and
then settled down to a series of
heavy pastries. We left him still
eating, weaving back and forth
over his plate and jocosely leading
the band with his fork.
That young workman was evi-
IDENTIFY not typical. He might have
won a fat premium on his govern
ment lottery loan. Certainly, ordi.
nary workmen, at their average
salary Of 35 roubles a week, could
not have met his bill.
That restaurant, too, is above
the average, but all the restau-
rants in Moscow have had Turk
1Sh bath. haircut and manicure.
Today 1t is possible for a for.
eigner, not too finicky, to enter
any Moscow restaurant and eat
the food without gagging. That
was not possible four years ago.
In Imagination
It is extremely difficult to con.
vey the sensational quality of the
observation that there is food.
much food, and comparatively
good food in Moscow. Americans
take food and restaurants and
cafes more or less for granted.
Nevertheless, imagine a Polar
explorer suddenly coming upon a
palm tree growing in the Arctic
wastes. His feelings might be
comparable with those of your
correspondent when, opening a
door in the street of the Art The.
ater, he saw before him a cafe.
1t might have been in any
western European city. The ia,
bles were polished, the chairs cut
in straight modern lines, the
guests were well dressed. Nobody
put his nose in his tea.
Mattresses Attractive
The radio played in a moderate
tone. And the mattresses were
dressed in silk blouses, neat blue
skirts, and they were all good
looking.
There were eight kinds of cof-
fee-plain, with milk, with
whipped cream, in the Warsaw,
Viennese or Turkish style, with
rum, or with cognac; tea, plain
or with jam; cocoa, chocolate;
eight kinds of soft drinks; six
sorts of pastries; two kinds of
ice cream; seven varieties of sand.
wiches; eggs with ham, cheese or
SauSageS.
Prices ran from so kopecks for
q glass of tea to S roubleS so
kopecks for ham and eggs. That
is to say, a dish Of ham and
eggs would cost a workman
nearly a full days wages. Work
men could not eat here, but there
were plenty Of Soviet citizens
who could.
Cafes as good as this are not
usual in Moscow, but less elegant
resorts are to be found in pro-
fusion, and this is the first time
since The Plan came into power
that Russians have had any pro-
vision made for the leiSurely en-