Alexey Vedev Leading Researcher, Financial Sector Department at the Gaidar Institute, in the RBC program ”The Day. Essentials”, expressed his opinion on the prospects of Russian cuisine as a tool of regions’ development through gastronomic tourism.
The expert is confident that Russian cuisine is well known abroad. He also suggested expanding its definition to include the cuisines of Russia's ethnic groups. He explains that when traveling around the country, he consciously chooses ethnic restaurants that represent the cuisine of a particular region.
Responding to the Ministry of Industry and Trade's data indicating that less than 1% of food facilities in Russia are advertised as serving "Russian cuisine," Alexey Vedev offered his explanation for statistical discrepancy: fast food chains dominate in Russia.
It's their overwhelming share of the gross market volume, rather than lack of ethnic restaurants, that alters the overall picture and formally reduces the percentage of food facilities serving Russian cuisine. The expert also spoke about his experience: it's easy to find at least five Russian cuisine restaurants in the cities with populations between 150.000 and 400.000.