Why do Russians Hate Ice?

[slim 1,525]

One would think that many Russians would hate ICE, if they were here illegally and got deported, si man.

La Migra! La Migra!

[TBoneTX 45,288]

La Migra! La Migra!

I once suggested to Mrs. T-B. that, for kicks, I poke my head into one of the Mexican restaurants near us, shout "Inmigracion!" and see who runs. She said that after they found out that it was untrue, I'd get my throat cut, blee(d) man.

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Sorry, I have almost no expertise on guns, so I can't contribute to the new topic of this thread... but I can talk about Russians and ice/cold stuff.

It's Amy writing (American fiancee), and Victor also doesn't like very cold drinks or adding ice to any drinks. And even though I'm American, I don't always use ice either. I actually am used to drinking room temperature water most of the time (I spent years working at a health food store where our water came from a reverse osmosis filter and we didn't have an ice machine, and the water came out at room temp so I came to prefer it), and I don't add ice to sodas because I find that it waters it down and makes it less fizzy, plus the cleanliness of fast food and restaurant ice machines/containers is sometimes questionable (and this I know from working in restaurants - the staff isn't always so ambitious to clean where the ice is kept and mildew grows - not every restaurant, mind you, but many). My teeth are too sensitive to chew on ice, too.

Conversely, while I love to drink hot tea, it's really hard for me to drink super hot beverages, and I have to let my tea or coffee cool down quite a bit before I can handle it, while Victor is already drinking his tea or coffee shortly after the water for it has been boiling, when I consider it to be like lava and a little "dangerous" for me. I usually need to add 1 ice cube to my tea if I want to drink it quickly after I make it, and he's sipping on his not long after it's made, and I'm like, "how can you drink that without it burning your tongue?" Me and him did drink some juices and sodas out of the fridge when we had some hotter weather while I was visiting him recently, but he let his sit around and get close to room temperature before he drank it and I was drinking mine more quickly. Also, he really does feel a sore throat after drinking or eating something super cold! I know that he actually feels it and it isn't just his imagination. It's not like he's actually sick from it, but it's a temporary soreness in his throat from cold stuff. I think it's just from getting used to eating and drinking certain temperatures of food your whole life.

When he and I were talking earlier today we also talked about how Americans drink a lot of milk, and can drink milk with almost any kind of food, where Russians tend to only drink a small amount of milk and with mostly things like sweets, or by itself, but not something like having a tall, cool glass of milk with breakfast or dinner. I'm not a big milk drinker myself, but my younger sister will sometimes drink 2 or 3 glasses of skim milk with almost every meal. Victor has some stomach disagreements if he consumes milk and then, say, fish, within a few hours of each other, and when he learned that Americans commonly drink milk with different kinds of food, both sweet and savory, he was really wondering how we can tolerate it and not feel nauseous and have diarrhea and stuff. Again I think all this dietary stuff just happens with what you grow up being used to.

I never really felt like I missed ice in Russia. We had 1 ice cube tray and I used some of the cubes to cool down my coffee and tea enough so it wouldn't burn my tongue. I never iced down my Baikal or apple juice.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Americans commonly drink milk [...] he was really wondering how we can tolerate it

I shall ask 6-month-old Mini-Bone, who is lustily partaking of same, at this writing, directly from the dairy farm... er, Mrs. T-B., moo man... er, si man.

[eekee 182]

i dunno, I know plenty of Russians who LOVE milk. I can only drink milk with, say, cake or cookies. I can't imagine drinking it with a meal. I think that's more personal preference than culture. Russians in general don't drink while eating the way Americans do. I get yelled at about it a lot.

[Captain Hammer 113]

Victoria practically gags when she sees anyone drink a glass of milk. She's fine with a little in her coffee or to cook with, but she absolutely abhors even watching someone drink it. I think her whole family's like that.

[slim 1,525]

Sorry, I have almost no expertise on guns,

That's something we shall have to remedy, isn't it! Stick around, we'll straighten you out.

my younger sister will sometimes drink 2 or 3 glasses of skim milk with almost every meal. Victor has some stomach disagreements if he consumes milk

I was brought up to drink milk at every meal, at least three glasses a day. In my teen and early adult years I skipped the milk. Recently I came back to it and there was "revolution" in my stomach when I drank it. It took about a year or so for me to learn to digest it again.

My Russian wife won't drink skim milk. "It's not real milk. It's like water." She isn't too happy about 2% or whole milk either. She prefers more of a cream, like condensed milk or even something like Kefir. Even then, she won't drink it, she'll only add it to her coffee or tea. Milk here is "nasty" and only tolerable with sweets and only after a spin in the microwave for 45 seconds or so.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Sorry, I have almost no expertise on guns, so I can't contribute to the new topic of this thread... but I can talk about Russians and ice/cold stuff.

It's Amy writing (American fiancee), and Victor also doesn't like very cold drinks or adding ice to any drinks. And even though I'm American, I don't always use ice either. I actually am used to drinking room temperature water most of the time (I spent years working at a health food store where our water came from a reverse osmosis filter and we didn't have an ice machine, and the water came out at room temp so I came to prefer it), and I don't add ice to sodas because I find that it waters it down and makes it less fizzy, plus the cleanliness of fast food and restaurant ice machines/containers is sometimes questionable (and this I know from working in restaurants - the staff isn't always so ambitious to clean where the ice is kept and mildew grows - not every restaurant, mind you, but many). My teeth are too sensitive to chew on ice, too.

Conversely, while I love to drink hot tea, it's really hard for me to drink super hot beverages, and I have to let my tea or coffee cool down quite a bit before I can handle it, while Victor is already drinking his tea or coffee shortly after the water for it has been boiling, when I consider it to be like lava and a little "dangerous" for me. I usually need to add 1 ice cube to my tea if I want to drink it quickly after I make it, and he's sipping on his not long after it's made, and I'm like, "how can you drink that without it burning your tongue?" Me and him did drink some juices and sodas out of the fridge when we had some hotter weather while I was visiting him recently, but he let his sit around and get close to room temperature before he drank it and I was drinking mine more quickly. Also, he really does feel a sore throat after drinking or eating something super cold! I know that he actually feels it and it isn't just his imagination. It's not like he's actually sick from it, but it's a temporary soreness in his throat from cold stuff. I think it's just from getting used to eating and drinking certain temperatures of food your whole life.

When he and I were talking earlier today we also talked about how Americans drink a lot of milk, and can drink milk with almost any kind of food, where Russians tend to only drink a small amount of milk and with mostly things like sweets, or by itself, but not something like having a tall, cool glass of milk with breakfast or dinner. I'm not a big milk drinker myself, but my younger sister will sometimes drink 2 or 3 glasses of skim milk with almost every meal. Victor has some stomach disagreements if he consumes milk and then, say, fish, within a few hours of each other, and when he learned that Americans commonly drink milk with different kinds of food, both sweet and savory, he was really wondering how we can tolerate it and not feel nauseous and have diarrhea and stuff. Again I think all this dietary stuff just happens with what you grow up being used to.

I never really felt like I missed ice in Russia. We had 1 ice cube tray and I used some of the cubes to cool down my coffee and tea enough so it wouldn't burn my tongue. I never iced down my Baikal or apple juice.

Are you kidding? Alla drinks milk like crazy and we get it straight from the cow, Jersey cows, with 6% fat content. She skims the cream for her coffee which leaves about 3% milkfat, like normal whole milk. She will not drin it any other way and I take it directly off the flash cooler tank. We have a dairy farmer for a neighbor, I go there and fill our 1 gallon pitcher off the tank and leave him $4 in the coffee can. Alla loves it and will not use any other milk. She says it is responsible for her now having wonderful natural fingernails. The boys drink it also, but not as much as Alla.

[visaveteran1 33]

Victoria practically gags when she sees anyone drink a glass of milk. She's fine with a little in her coffee or to cook with, but she absolutely abhors even watching someone drink it. I think her whole family's like that.

Many Russians seem to like drinking "Kefir" or liquid yogurt.

Edited August 14, 2011 by visaveteran1

[james&olya 1,121]

Many Russians seem to like drinking "Kefir" or liquid yogurt.

My 2y/o step-daughter drinks 1-2 liters of kefir daily (actually 'nightly' would be more accurate). But if Ryazhenka were available that is what Olga would prefer she drink!

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Are you kidding? Alla drinks milk like crazy and we get it straight from the cow, Jersey cows, with 6% fat content. She skims the cream for her coffee which leaves about 3% milkfat, like normal whole milk. She will not drin it any other way and I take it directly off the flash cooler tank. We have a dairy farmer for a neighbor, I go there and fill our 1 gallon pitcher off the tank and leave him $4 in the coffee can. Alla loves it and will not use any other milk. She says it is responsible for her now having wonderful natural fingernails. The boys drink it also, but not as much as Alla.

It's Victor from Russia writing. Amy isn't kidding, all she wrote is true and as native Russian guy (I live in the West part of Russia all my life) I can put my sign under every her phrase in that post. No one of my relatives or friends in Russia "drinks milk like crazy". And on our vacation together with Amy I was so wondering that she is drinking milk just with usual meals sometimes. I don't doubt that your wife drinks a lot of milk, but it's very unusual for Russians who had live in cities (Russians from villages drink more milk, of course). One more fact - I was wondered that in US it's popular to buy gallon-packs of milk because in Russia biggest typical factory-made pack of milk is 1 liter (about 1/4 gallon), also we have 0.5 liter packs (1/8 gallon) and 0.2 liters packs for children (1/20 gallon). Why? Because almost nobody would buy gallon-bottle of milk in Russia, you should have giant family here to use gallon of milk earlier than it will be spoiled. Of course, some Russians drink a lot of milk, as some Americans don't drink milk at all, but thats not typical. And Russian children of course drink milk more than adults. Typical Russian adult will not drink milk every day, and never will drink milk with usual lunch/dinner meal (which includes meat, chicken or vegetables, for example). Though, typical Russian loves sour cream and eating it a lot with a many meals.

[Brad and Vika 129]

It's Victor from Russia writing. Amy isn't kidding, all she wrote is true and as native Russian guy (I live in the West part of Russia all my life) I can put my sign under every her phrase in that post. No one of my relatives or friends in Russia "drinks milk like crazy". And on our vacation together with Amy I was so wondering that she is drinking milk just with usual meals sometimes. I don't doubt that your wife drinks a lot of milk, but it's very unusual for Russians who had live in cities (Russians from villages drink more milk, of course). One more fact - I was wondered that in US it's popular to buy gallon-packs of milk because in Russia biggest typical factory-made pack of milk is 1 liter (about 1/4 gallon), also we have 0.5 liter packs (1/8 gallon) and 0.2 liters packs for children (1/20 gallon). Why? Because almost nobody would buy gallon-bottle of milk in Russia, you should have giant family here to use gallon of milk earlier than it will be spoiled. Of course, some Russians drink a lot of milk, as some Americans don't drink milk at all, but thats not typical. And Russian children of course drink milk more than adults. Typical Russian adult will not drink milk every day, and never will drink milk with usual lunch/dinner meal (which includes meat, chicken or vegetables, for example). Though, typical Russian loves sour cream and eating it a lot with a many meals.

Hi Victor - happy to see you posting. Gallon and half-gallon containers of milk seem to be pretty popular. We don't buy it at all, because we don't drink it and don't have kids young enough to need it. I have heard that many Americans keep drinking milk way past the age when our bodies need it, or can handle it. I just don't like the taste

[Tanya and Barry 59]

Tanya loves buttermilk....Uhhgg!!!

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

My 2y/o step-daughter drinks 1-2 liters of kefir daily (actually 'nightly' would be more accurate). But if Ryazhenka were available that is what Olga would prefer she drink!

mmmmmn Ryazhenka! *drool* Victor got me really loving that stuff when in Russia with him! It's so tasty! I wish we could get it here.

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Hi Victor - happy to see you posting. Gallon and half-gallon containers of milk seem to be pretty popular. We don't buy it at all, because we don't drink it and don't have kids young enough to need it. I have heard that many Americans keep drinking milk way past the age when our bodies need it, or can handle it. I just don't like the taste

I have heard that a adults past a certain age stop producing enough of the enzyme needed to digest lactose very well, and that it's not much of a nutritional benefit to keep drinking it in late adulthood (not harmful, either, unless you're extremely lactose intolerant). I fins I sometimes crave it, actually, but not very often myself, and I often don't even have any in my fridge unless I know I'll need to cook something with milk in the recipe.

-Amy

Edited August 14, 2011 by Amy_and_Victor