What People Eat in The Coldest City on Earth @Kiun B
Watch on YouTube · 2024-12-11 · 19 min
0:00 Hi guys, I'm gonna be reviewing a video called What I Eat in a Day in the Coldest City on Earth. It's a fitting video for December.
[video] 0:07 Yakutsk, my hometown. A place where winter is so harsh it feels like living on another planet. Yet we have found ways to adapt and food plays a crucial role in that. From shopping at the world's coldest markets to the hearty meals that keeps us warm and fueled, I will show you what a typical day of eating looks like and how we survive in the coldest city.
0:27 Hopefully she will eat some raw meat because a lot of people there eat raw meat.
[video] 0:35 I start my day with breakfast, one of the most important
0:39 Oh, I think that those are seed oils. It's very typical in Russia to use that. I would really stop that if you don't want heart disease later in life. The more you use it, the sooner it's gonna come.
[video] 0:52 Meals here in Yakutia. It needs to be hearty and packed with calories to prepare us for the cold ahead. Today I am making traditional Yakutian pancakes. A simple mix of flour, water, milk and egg. Fried in oil...
1:05 At least there's milk and eggs in the slime, but the flour is obviously made from seeds. Seeds and then seed oil. Wow. Yeah, that's really bad. That's a horrible breakfast.
[video] 1:20 They're quite fatty, but that's exactly what keeps us fueled for the day.
1:25 It would be good if it was fatty, but really it's just oily. It's polyunsaturated oils for the most part, that's why it's liquid. Whereas saturated fat is firm.
[video] 1:39 Another dish is whipped cream with frozen berries. This refreshing and delicious treat is often enjoyed with pancakes.
1:46 Okay, that's already a lot better. If you would only eat that, that would be good. But the pancakes? Really bad idea.
[video] 1:54 We use a special Yakutian wooden whipper to make it light and fluffy, a perfect complement to the meal.
[video] 2:05 In Yakutia, having two breakfasts is completely normal. It's how we stay warm in this freezing cold.
2:14 The cream looks nice, that's all fine. It's just that you're eating seeds cooked in seed oils.
[video] 2:24 It's really good. Yakutsk's freezing temperatures make it nearly impossible to grow food locally. So most of our food is transported from the warmer regions, thousands of kilometers away, which drives up cost. We have a large supermarket in Yakutsk where you can find almost everything.
2:40 Bananas in such a climate, it just makes zero sense. Even the apples and everything else there. It would just be better for the population to stick to what's available there.
[video] 2:49 but prices are about double those in central Russia. Vegetables and fruits are limited and very expensive. Tomatoes, for example, cost around $10 for just 500 grams. This is cheap, especially considering the average monthly wage here is about $800.
[video] 3:13 By the way, I lost the audio from this grocery shopping video, so if it looks like I am talking to the camera without sound, now you know why.
3:22 Wait, is that almond milk? So cold. Yeah, a lot of garbage has been imported into this country, unfortunately. That's messed up.
[video] 3:38 Canned beef or tshonga is still very popular here. Older generations remember it as a staple during food shortages across the former Soviet Union. It's affordable at just $2 per can, lasts up to 15 years and still reminds us of childhood.
3:53 You may get some toxic heavy metals from that, but still, better than what you ate for breakfast and better than all of the imported garbage.
[video] 4:04 perfectly with pasta for a hearty simple meal. Another local favorite is Rusk, a twice-baked bread with unique flavors like jellied meat with horseradish, my personal favorite.
[video] 4:16 Grocery shopping can get expensive fast. Essentials like meat, dairy, and staples often cost more here than in other regions. A week's grocery for one person can easily total $150, even without luxury items like fresh fruits, vegetables, or salmon.
[video] 4:33 Sanctions have also impacted what's available on shelves. Many imported products are limited. To adapt... That's good.
4:41 Be glad.
[video] 4:41 ...Russia has introduced local alternatives, like Dobri, a Coca-Cola substitute that translates to cayenne coal.
4:49 That's stupid. Should've just left it out. You should've been glad that it was gone.
[video] 4:56 Now, most imported goods come from China, including drinks like Fanta, Pepsi and Sprite, while familiar brands remain on shelves they are often slightly different from what you would find elsewhere. Frozen products are common and generally cheaper than fresh one. Chicken isn't very popular here because it's mostly imported, so we tend to eat locally raised beef and horse meat. Frozen chicken cost around $10 per kilogram.
[video] 5:28 Olive oil is another luxury. Most people use sunflower oil, which costs just $2.
5:33 Yeah, because it's poisonous.
[video] 5:35 It's like a waste product, essentially. Yeah, but what does it matter?
5:45 Olive oil is also just oil from a toxic fruit. Olives are bitter in their natural raw state.
[video] 5:53 Coffee is also a luxury, as most brands are imported. A pack of Starbucks
5:57 Also good. It's just seeds again, toxic seeds that adrenalize your body. Just leave it all out, throw it out.
[video] 6:04 This is very important in Russia. Especially in the north because of the climate.
[video] 6:25 In Yakutia, alcohol is only sold in special licensed shops. These stores operate under strict rules, they are open only from 2 pm to 8 pm. This law is meant to reduce alcohol consumption and prevent excessive buying. It's a unique system, but it's just how things are done here. When it comes to wine, the selection is quite limited. Most good wines are produced abroad in places like France or Italy, but they are hard to come by here. Instead, most wines available are from Georgia or Armenia. They are more affordable and easier to import. So if you are a wine lover, the choices here are fewer and can be quite...
7:01 It's just because... there's hardly any sunlight and even if there is sun you're not going to be standing out in the cold getting sunlight. That's why also in Sweden, Norway, Finland and all of these northern countries people can get very depressed. It's mostly because they don't eat all the fatty fish, reindeer and whatever they used to eat back in the day. If you stick to eating organs and all the fat you will be fine. Because you will be getting a lot of vitamin D. That's also why they are obsessed with saunas, especially in Finland. They even have these competitions, because they want the warmth so much. And when you drink alcohol, because of the toxicity, your body also warms up. That's why homeless people use a lot of alcohol. It's not necessarily that they are alcoholics as such.
7:53 It's just that they drink a lot of it because they need to keep warm and then you could say that they become alcoholics, but it's sort of a different reason. At least the reason why they started drinking so much. A typical evening in a Russian home is If you understand it.
[video] 8:23 For lunch, most office workers here head to canteen. It's fast, affordable and serves comforting home-style meals. While we do have restaurants offering Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian cuisine Locals usually save those for weekends or dinners. For lunch, budget-friendly and quick spots like canteens are the go-to choice.
[video] 8:48 Today I've come to a typical canteen serving traditional Yakutian and Russian dishes. Whenever I go to the canteen, I tend to overdo it. This time is no different. I've ended up with a full three-course meal. I've got a traditional Yakutian fried pie, Russian salad mimosa, offal soup, fermented
9:04 But really, how traditional are these fried pies? It's just, again, grain sludge fried in seed oils. It probably didn't used to be around that long ago, because people really, they're almost only used to eat meat most of the year, and then some berries and honey in summer.
[video] 9:22 Horse milk and mashed potatoes with horse meat, all for just $8.
9:27 And milk also, dairy product.
[video] 9:30 What do you think? Is that cheap? Let me know in the comments. Tonight I am going to my auntie's and uncle's house for a dinner and I need to buy some extra food from the local market in Yakutsk. You've probably seen the outdoor market in my previous videos, the coldest market in the world, where people work outside even in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius. Here you can buy meat, fish, frozen milk, berries and much more. Everything is completely solid frozen, so there is no need for refrigerators, the outside air is already colder than any freezer. People here work from early morning until evening bundled up in multiple layers to stay warm. I can't imagine how challenging it must be to work in such freezing conditions. After just 10 minutes at the market, I could feel the cold creep.
10:18 The guy doesn't even have gloves on. You get used to it, the human body can adapt to a lot.
[video] 10:25 Wow, that's hardcore. I'm sure that they do complain when they get frostbite.
[video] 10:59 If it wasn't for the seeds, their diets would be very good, even if most of it is cooked. At least that's what they do. There's probably some families that eat at least half raw.
[video] 11:27 The practice passed down through generations, a vital way for our ancestors to secure food for the harsh winter months. For dessert, my uncle is preparing a frozen whitefish I bought at the market. This is a special treat, raw frozen fish traditionally eaten ice-cold. First, my uncle peels off the skin. A skill that takes practice, because you need to work fast. The fish must stay frozen. He is using a kutyan knife, which is sharp and perfect for slicing frozen fish, a regular kitchen knife just would not do the job.
12:00 That looks yummy. I would love to try this.
12:20 Horse liver is the main delicacy in Yakutia. Wow, that's cool. I've had horse liver. I had it in Kazakhstan. It was very nice.
12:42 It's just like chocolate, exactly. Liver is just like chocolate, yeah. It's super similar. That's probably the reason why people like chocolate. Naturally, it reminds them of liver.
[video] 12:55 Let's see how it tastes. It's good. It's delicious.
[video] 13:13 Dinner is almost ready. On the menu today, boiled crucian carp, blood sausage, horse meat in cranberry sauce, pie and a fresh salad.
13:22 Leave out the pie and the salad and you have a super good meal.
13:29 Some kind of imported cucumbers, tomatoes, both are fruits. No point, man. There's no fruits that grow there.
[video] 13:36 Everything is from the farm. Fresh, organic and absolutely delicious.
13:42 at this time of the year, to be exact.
[video] 13:45 It's a hearty meal, just what we need to stay warm and energized during Yakutia's harsh winters. Thank you for watching and let me know what meals are like in your hometown.
13:55 Yeah, it's just that you have the potatoes, which are also, of course, flown in or whatever, brought in with the truck. They almost only used to eat meat most of the year, because there was nothing else.
14:14 The diets became more modern, but okay. It's still a lot better than what most people eat today.
14:24 Yeah, I like this video. Pretty chill people. I've already seen videos from there. I also reviewed one a while ago. The people are a lot happier than in other places, even with this harsh climate. Obviously, such cold weather is not easy on you, to say the least. That's why people who live in northern countries spend most of the year inside, seeing as they hate the cold so much. Obviously, naturally, your body hates it. The same way your body hates really bad heat. It's just extreme, so to speak.
15:07 That's why people like summer, but not when it's too hot. Everybody loves summer. As I was saying before, these kind of temperatures are bearable if you really overload your body with a lot of animal fat, fatty fish. blood also ideally, you eat your organs, then you will be fine, you will survive the cold and you will also feel happy because you're getting all of these nutrients, you're getting the vitamin D from the brain and the rest of the animal fat. But seeing as people don't eat that, as I said before, they eat seeds cooked in seed oils, which they did also partly now, unfortunately, but thankfully it's not what they mostly eat, and lean meat with vegetables and fruits. None of that is gonna help you to produce any body heat when needed.
16:03 And you're of course also gonna be mentally unwell, because it doesn't feed your gut. And if your gut is not fed, then your brain is also not fed. In the sense that all of these feel-good hormones will not be produced. And of course therefore they also don't travel to your brain. How can they, if they don't even exist in your body? That's the biggest problem with having an unhealthy gut microbiome and on top of that eating a lot of anti-nutrients, glyphosate, all of those artificial pesticides, herbicides. You destroy your gut so severely that when you combine that with living in a northern country,
16:52 then of course you will end up obsessing with saunas drinking alcohol sit at home all day watch tv play video games whatever then your life can become insanely miserable life in northern countries for most people today is really unbearable but if you would eat a good natural so-called diet as in good natural food then uh You could live an alright life there, not that I would want to do it or recommend it to anybody, but if you live there, it's your home, we are all used to where we come from, our homes, and it just always gives you this feeling that you're home, this is where I'm supposed to be. I get that. Thankfully, I don't have that.
17:41 I'm so glad that I don't live in the country where I was born, but I could understand if you would eat really proper good food there, then you could live an alright life. It's still okay. People always used to somehow survive and people used to be happy pretty much no matter where they lived. You can still do it. These people are unfortunately slowly shifting away from their natural ways of living. It's still okay. As I said, the people seemed something close to happy. For sure a lot happier than people in Europe today and all of those garbage places. Those are just done. No matter how the weather is, whatever they eat there, even though they have access to good food still, you can just tell how insanely depressed they are.
18:39 These people still have their family, they eat together, they live together, at least partly anyway, they have bigger families that live together, and they still have this community. And it's something. It's still a lot nicer to live there in that sense than in most places on Earth today, even with that weather. Thanks for watching.