- Mm, this is delicious.
- Oh, that's super sweet. Ow, ow, ow.
♪ (French accordion music) ♪
- (FBE) We've got another food episode for you.
- Dun, dun, dun!
- (FBE) So, we're gonna have you try some
Russian sweets today. - Okay.
I'm ready to have some desserts.
- I've never tried Russian food before.
- I already probably tried them, 'cause my family's Russian.
I've tried every Russian sweet possible.
- I have no idea what Russian sweets are.
The only thing I know about Russian people
is that their president is Putin.
- Russian sweets. Do you mean Russian candy?
- (FBE) Maybe. - Ooh.
- (FBE) Just a disclaimer that I am a non-native
Russian speaker and will do my best to not butcher
the pronunciation of these treats. - And at the end,
when I have to say my favorite, I'll try not to butcher them.
- (FBE) We got all these treats at a local Russian
grocery market. - Odessa?
They have the best pirozhki, which is pretty much egg
inside of meat. It's the best there.
My mom always buys it.
- (FBE) Here's your first one. - It looks like a donut.
- Yum. This looks delicious.
- (tapping)
- It smells cinnamony.
- I really like it.
- Tastes like corn, but not good corn,
really dry corn.
- Very sugary and sweet. It's obviously what I expected.
- I feel like the white stuff is basically powdered sugar,
but it's hard.
- I'm getting a vanilla cakey kinda flavor.
It kinda reminds me of a frosted cookie.
- (FBE) This one is called pryaniki.
It's a Russian spice cookie, or also known as honey bread.
We know these as gingerbread. - Oh, that's what it is.
It tasted really familiar.
- My grandma sometimes used to buy these.
I don't know. I don't really like them that much.
- It has more of a sweet type of sugar taste to it.
- When you said "honey bread" I didn't have a good face.
I don't like honey.
- American gingerbread tastes better
and it's less soft. I thought it would taste
like a donut, but it tastes like butt.
- (FBE) All right, here's your next one.
- What is that? It's gummy.
- It's very wobbly.
- Ah. I can't eat this.
- Ugh, I don't like it.
- It mostly just like a peanut with some kind
of gummy stuff on top.
- (FBE) So, this is called churchkhela.
- Is it called chocola, chocola, chocola, chocola?
- It's made by threading almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and chocolate
onto a string and then it's dipped in thickened grape juice,
then dried upside down in the shape of a sausage.
- I was gonna say it looks like a sausage,
but it doesn't taste like one at all.
- That seems like such a long process just to get this.
- This was dried grape juice? I couldn't really taste it.
It was just kind of really rubbery,
but I could taste all of the nuts
and that part was really good.
- Now you make it sugar face up
to make it look like it'll taste good.
- I can't even break this. Yeah, I can't break this in--
is that salt?
- Too sweet. I don't like it.
- It's kind of like having bread with sprinkles on top.
They don't really taste very sweet.
- I don't think I like it. It tastes like burnt bread
with raisins in it and you sprinkled some sugar on it.
- (FBE) So, this is a type of rusk,
or a dry bread. It's made with raisin
and topped with dry sugar. These are similar to what
we call a piskoty and it's often accompanied
with coffee or tea, so you can dip it
in your drink and soften it. - Yep, definitely gross.
Hate it.
- I was kinda wondering what the darkish things on it were.
It's good. It tastes like bread
with sugar and raisins inside.
- I can see why they eat it with that tea and stuff,
'cause I feel like it would taste good then,
'cause it's softened and you have a warm drink.
- I love these. They're like dried up marshmallows.
- This looks very breakable. I feel like if I touch it,
it's gonna just break into a million pieces.
- I wanna juggle it. I wish I had two of these,
so I could be like, ♪ (humming circus music) ♪
- That's good.
- It's like a raspberry marshmallow.
- It's melting in my mouth.
- It's really sweet. If you bite into it,
it dissolves like cotton candy, kind of.
- (FBE) So, this one is actually called zefir,
similar to a marshmallow, it... - Oh, oh, zefir.
- (FBE) Zefir.
Similar to a marshmallow, it's derived from the traditional
Russian pastila, but with added egg,
white foam and a gelling agent. The name was given
after the Greek god of the light west wind, Zefir,
which symbolizes its delicate, airy consistency.
- Oh. Very light.
- I like it. It's really good.
It's very fluffy.
- Yeah, I liked it. I would want to eat
this regularly.
- This one looks like cake with jelly on it.
- It looks just like pie.
- Mm, it's delicious.
- Oh, that's super sweet. Ow, ow, ow.
- It's like a pie with strawberry jelly inside it.
- Not good. And I don't like jam by itself
with bread.
- It tastes like cake, just with no frosting
and that jelly swirl in it, it's really good.
- I don't like the bread. It tastes a bit too much
like challa, but it's a bit better than the other ones,
so I guess it's edible.
- (FBE) This is called a cherry pirozhki.
They are basically cakes filled with cherry jam.
If you live in Russia, you'll have been force fed these
by your grandma at some point in your life.
- Yeesh. That's harsh.
- Yeah, I don't wanna live in Russia.
- This is good. I would want my grandma
to make me eat this.
- I would love this cake. It's delicious.
- My overall thought on Russian treats was just
the ones that I tried, I don't really like them.
The only thing that was good was the marshmallow.
- I don't think there was a single one that was bad.
These were all delicious.
- Russian food is great. It really is.
I love Russian food, especially since my family's
from there. I have it a lot.
Pirozhki with egg and meat, you have to try those.
Those are so good.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Kids Vs. Food
on the React Channel.
- Don't miss out, Subscribe.
- Hit that Like button if you liked this episode.
- Poka.
- Hey guys, Alyssa here, a producer from the React Channel.
Thanks so much for visiting Russia with us today.
Let us know in the comments what country we should visit next.
Bye.