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The Vodka Question


I’ve just read an article by the BBC entitled ‘Russian alcohol consumption falls steeply’. According to a recent WHO survey, it fell by 43% from 2003 to 2016. Isn’t that mental? 43%! And it comes just as I was about to write an entry on Russian drinking culture. How thoughtful of them.

I remember sitting in my neighbours’ kitchen a couple of days before I left for Krasnoyarsk, and being asked how I was planning on getting around the centrality of heavy drinking to Russian culture. I’d already been warned by friends (and professors) that not drinking wasn’t an option in Russia. Leaving a full bottle on a table, they said, is considered offensive. So if someone gets out a bottle of vodka, you’d better chug it before you leave or you might have some angry-ass Russians following you out. Now this may well have been the case in the Soviet Union, and even in the early days of the Russian Federation, but it seems to be the precise opposite case now. Much like beards (which are disappointingly scarce over here given the hype), heavy drinking seems no longer to be an accurate stereotype of modern Russia.

In fact, Russia is an easier place to be teetotal than England. Honestly. Four of my friends don’t drink at all, others drink very rarely. And they don’t drink vodka. I haven’t found one person here who admits to being fond of vodka. It’s g&t or samogon (which still probably isn’t a particularly healthy choice).

Back in First Year, my Russian conversation teacher tried explaining Soviet drinking culture to me. She was an incredibly learned Russian professor, like a wise old owl. It was rather unexpected when she said ‘what you need to understand is that in France, they drink wine socially. If you’re going to drink socially, then you want to drink slowly, and you want a drink that tastes nice. We Russians don’t want a drink that tastes nice, because we don’t drink socially. We drink to pass out, so we have a national drink that tastes of nothing.’ I can’t fault her logic. And it was even more surprising when I found myself recycling her argument to explain British student drinking culture to Russians. ‘Well in Britain, students drink a LOT. It’s not like here, where you sometimes catch up with a friend over a glass of something. In Britain, people go out to clubs and they get BINNED.’

The BBC article explained the sharp decline in alcohol consumption over here as a result of alcohol-control measures introduced under Medvedev, including recognising beer as alcohol (yeah that’s probably a good shout). But I wonder if it’s just a reaction to the heavy drinking culture of the Soviet Union, which begat a nation where alcohol is recognised as the main cause of death. I feel like, with the gentle encouragement of the new control measures, Russian society is changing its attitude to alcohol of its own accord, which has got to be a good thing.

Although a couple of people have also suggested that I reserve judgement until winter hits… apparently people get bored in -40C and heavy snow. Fair enough I suppose.
Just a nice picture really, nothing to do with the blog

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