Russians are bracing for an expensive festive season as prices for some of the nation’s most-loved New Year dishes surge and high inflation continues to eat into household budgets.
Olivier salad — a traditional mayonnaise-laden dish of potato, eggs and meat — is set to cost 15% more than last year, according to an analysis of official government price data by the Izvestia newspaper.
And the ingredients for herring under a fur coat — another traditional Russian New Year dish of pickled herring layered under vegetables and topped with bright purple beetroot — are set to cost 25% more than last year.
The so-called “Olivier Index” — which tracks the cost of ingredients needed to make four servings of the salad — is used as a bellwether indicator of the cost of living for Russian families.
Inflation is currently running at a six-year high in Russia, with food prices having risen dramatically over the last 18 months. That has hit Russian households — a majority of which have no savings — hard, coming on the back of almost a decade of falling or stagnating living standards.
© Inline LLC 2015-2024. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service