[TAG] English->American dictionary

[Mike Orr]

Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:

>On Sun, Sep 25, 2005 at 11:17:51PM -0700, Mike Orr wrote:
>  
>
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma
>>"In Russia Shawarma (?????? or ???????) (shaurma or shaverma) 
>>became one of the most popular street foods. Originally from the former 
>>Soviet Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, shawarma in Russia is generally 
>>eaten with a variety of julienned vegetables, tomato sauce, and garlic 
>>sauce that is wrapped in lavash."
>>    
>>
>
>Damn, that would definitely be after my time. I'd _heard_ of ?????? as
>one of those "Asiatic" dishes, but I don't think I ever had it before I
>left Russia. It certainly wasn't being sold on street corners back then.
>  
>


This was at a stand (Russian: "kiosk") at what I'd guess you'd call a 
kiosk park.  These had sprung up around all the metro stations during 
the time I was there, a concession to petit capitalism just before the 
Soviet Union collapsed.  (I think they went back that far.  I was there 
in 1995 and 1996.)  People used them as convenience stores; the prices 
were slightly higher than in the rynoks (more established open-air 
markets).  You could also deal with one person directly, in contrast to 
the traditional Soviet shops where you first paid the cashier, then 
stood in another line to pick up your items.  But the best prices were 
at the huge marketplace at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow 
(formerly VDNKh, whatever that means).  We tourists joked that the 
Center was "where the kiosk owners shopped", although I'm not sure it 
was strictly true.   Rumor was that the kiosks were controlled by the 
Russian mafia.  I only saw one shaverma stand during my travels, at the 
Gor'kovskaya metro station in northwest St Pete (Petrogradskaya 
Storona).  At the time they were converting some of the slapped-together 
kiosk parks to proper permanent buildings.  I don't know if this process 
was completed, but if so there would be a lot fewer shops than there were.

The entrance to the Exhibition Center was huge, several blocks of grand 
boulevard and imposing Soviet statues that would have made Leni 
Riefenstahl proud.  Inside was a monument to Sputnik, my favorite sight 
in Russia.  I don't know what the Center was used for in Soviet times 
(rallies?), but when I was there it hosted business conventions as well 
as the huge market.  (Stalin must be turning over in his grave.)  The 
metro station was still VDNKh but the Center was called Vsye-Rossiskaya 
Vystavka Sentr or something like that.

[The images are dated 1998 because that's when I scanned the photos, but 
they were taken in 1995.]


>
>* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://linuxgazette.net *
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