As anyone knows to a small child, the division of things and substances into edible and unsuitable for food is a rather arbitrary thing. Even if a person is not able to digest some gifts of nature, then why not simply fill their belly with them, as dieters do with cotton balls? Four-legged friends of a person will agree with a small child, knowing that you can also satisfy your hunger with excrement. The main thing is that the microbes living in them do not upset the gourmet's intestines. In extreme cases, the most sacred is suitable for food - the flesh and blood of the omnipresent heirs of Adam and Eve.
Without going into the trophic extremism characteristic of babies, dogs and cannibals, an adult capable person usually compares possibilities with desires. No one spends their entire salary on black caviar, but everything happens in life, and sometimes, as a result of force majeure, the wallet turns out to be empty, and the pocket is also full of holes. Without much fear of dying, you can go hungry for three days before a real brutal appetite sets in. As they say, hunger is the best seasoning. To help an earthling who has found himself without money, the methods and methods of food survival accumulated by colleagues in misfortune, without shameful begging and/or sinful criminality, come to the rescue. For example, these are somewhat non-standard:
On the ball and sweet vinegar
Among those items that are given free of charge to customers in the service and catering sectors, sauces and seasonings occupy a special place. Salt, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, pepper, mustard and various other things are found on the tables of restaurants and cafes, and in some places in fast food chains they are packaged in portions - take, they say, as much as you like.
Seasonings have some energy value but to be satisfied with them alone is a difficult and dangerous business. But if an exquisite spread of almost stolen spices is applied in a thick layer on a green piece of bread beaten off from a flock of sparrows, that is, it will become much more fun.
Mission "Hotel"
Being in the corridor of a hotel is not criminal. The main thing is to get there somehow. Well, inside the institution we are interested in the maids' carts filled with all sorts of interchangeable goods for the guests. It is recommended to start the inspection of these carts from the last floor - a descending person may look like a guest who came to the hotel on the previous shift and stomps home, for example.
In addition to shampoos, toothbrushes and pens, cherished carts can store products for restocking in hotel minibars and refrigerators. Among them there are not only drinks, but also sweets, cookies, and other snacks. And beer.
After eating and drinking somewhere in the nook, you can try your luck and get into the hotel pool. But if they are caught, they will be punished with full right.
In addition, in some hotels that serve a solid number of bed and breakfast clients (the busier the more tempting), from 6 to 8 in the morning you can satisfy your appetite for free with a continental breakfast: the staff may not have time to find out which room you are from and so on.
One year of free meals in the airport business lounge
You can learn a lot from the people of China. For example, how, on a completely legal, harmless basis, to consume hearty and varied meals for free day after day. For this purpose, a certain Chinese man chose the Xi'an airport and Eastern China Airlines, from which a citizen purchased an expensive first-class plane ticket, which the rich and celebrities fly. Such a ticket on the territory of the airport in Xi'an pleases the owner with free and high-quality food in the waiting room for VIPs.
In addition, with such a ticket, you can postpone the day of the flight as many times as you like without losing anything in money. For almost a year, a smart Chinese man came to the airport, checked in and got into the business lounge, where delicious dishes were waiting for him. After dinner, the man handed over the ticket, transferring the departure to the next day. And so on.
The day came when airline employees noticed something strange - the same ticket was re-booked more than 300 times, and the same number of times the passenger ate for free in the VIP lounge. All that, according to the law, the aviators could do with the sly one was to have a soul-saving conversation. After which the man agreed to no longer abuse the gap in the VIP customer service system. At the end of the epic, the cheerful Chinese returned the ticket for good and returned its full cost to his pocket.
closer to the kitchen
In special cases, a food crisis in the stomach, and even in the refrigerator, can be avoided if you get a job in a restaurant. Catering establishments, of course, are not obliged to feed the staff, but in many good places workers employed on long shifts and workers with dignity are still fed.
Working "closer to the kitchen" is good because it combines the process of making money with the practice of saving them. Moreover, you can make friends with the chef.
Gentlemen from the USA and Canada write that in some restaurants fast food you can get free food or at least a drink if you come with a bank card that refuses, pretend to be hungry and say that there is nothing to pay with except this card. In addition, at the compassionate McDonald's you can get a free drink if you pay at the checkout for a hamburger only in small change: the employee will think that you are in need and you don’t have enough for a cola, why not treat you?
Alone with everyone
Possessing a certain attractiveness and luck, lovers of free food can try themselves in the role of the stars of the so-called “food porn” (food porn), that is, gastronomic voyeurism. In South Korea, plagued by all sorts of virtual eccentricities, this food business is called "Muk-bang."
The essence of the process is that many single Koreans, who have no one to share a meal with, feel a pleasant excitement watching someone else eat. Participation in such video chats without obscenity makes it possible not only to eat from the belly at the expense of the company, but also to earn up to $ 9,000 a month at the full rate of a mukbang star.
It is said that such highly paid professional gluttons, consuming freebies on camera, have a stomach capacity comparable to that of an elephant, and a metabolic rate like that of an elephant. That is, there are gracile eternally young girls and boys who can easily, in one sitting, gobble up thirty eggs or two medium-sized pizzas, or five packages of instant noodles. There are about 3,500 such idols of ostentatious gluttony in Korea today, and millions are salivating over the broadcast. Shows take place mostly in the evenings, when in their cramped concrete burrows, Seoulites and other millionaires get down to something like a feast.
Markets
If you don’t dine, then you can have a bite to eat in the markets, taking advantage of the hospitality of merchants who let you try their goods. The main thing here is to think over a strategy in advance: in what order to go around the rows with milk, cream and cottage cheese, sausages, smoked fish, pickles, jams and fruits and vegetables - so that later it would not be excruciatingly painful. This entire assortment is not found in every city market, and not every seller is in a hurry to cut off a slice of anything, but stalls with hearty nuts and dried fruits are quite a promising direction for searching. For a market food researcher, an excellent memory is important - not to approach the same traders several times, and courtesy: you need to ask questions with an interested look in order to pass for a thoughtful buyer. There are many places, for example, in the market on Sennaya Square, along with a small purchase right before the closing of trade, you can buy pickles or overripe fruits for a penny that will not live until tomorrow, or even receive them as a gift. Again, the main thing, without fanaticism - health is more expensive.
Banquets and receptions
Presentations, press conferences, openings, closings, anniversaries, dinners, shows, vernissages, finishes, afterparty - everywhere, in general, they feed and water. But there are so many subtleties - go crazy, a whole science.Here are just the basics: the most lavish banquets are in foreign-run hotels, at agency launches of very expensive foreign brands, or at car dealerships for the richest clients. Gene Beefeeter will flow like a river Martitni may end, Probka Family does not practice treats, in Erarta they pour it at any opening, after from Sobaka.ru city will be gone for a few days. If the invitation calls for booking tables, it means that there will not be much free, and in any case, you need to come strictly to the beginning - there are countless rules and nuances. To understand them, but not to be known as a “sandwich” (a person who does nothing except going to parties) is possible only after long and successful years of work in a related field - journalism, PR, fashion and others. Another thing, after that once again I don’t want to go to these events.
Supermarkets
In the second half of the 2000s, at the height of the popularity of sampling among marketers, on any evening from Thursday to Saturday in supermarkets, people in ridiculous promotional costumes offered to try butter, cookies, ketchup or ready-made dumplings. Now this happens less often, and the system is difficult to trace: but try combing a couple of supermarkets on an empty stomach, wandering among the shelves bursting with delicacies. It is necessary either to take establishments of a higher class - jamoneria at restaurants or where the client’s desire, including trying something, is the law. Or look for jobs mystery shoppers- people who are hired to check the level of service. They are most in demand in the sale of something very expensive, like cars, but they are sometimes sought for in the food and nutrition industry.
Generous Catering
In general, this is an oxymoron - for free in establishments that make money on food, they will not feed. But there are generous hosts who are not greedy and offer something: for example, in a bar-hairdressing salon, there are glasses with salty straws on the bar counter, which are updated all night. In many canteens you can take bread for free - whether you took an order is not checked. In the dining room of the Main Post Office, for example, appetizing crackers are handed out. At the exit from the cafe of the Wasabi chain there are bowls with sweets, you can, without hesitation, scoop up a whole handful just by looking into the room. Sweets are often treated to clients of beauty salons, for example, once they give current clients, they will also give them to potential ones.
Separately, it should be noted those who follow the precepts of Napoleon, who legally obliged restaurateurs to supply free water, and are ready to give guests a drink. Bottles, without asking for an order, will be brought to any table in the Jean-Jacques restaurant chain and in Abazhur, honor to them, and praise. In the bars "Dom Byta" and "Zing" on weekdays they will give water with an order, in the latter, maybe even with nuts.
Go to your parents
Go to your parents - what is there to explain.
Charitable and government organizations
If things are really bad, you can ask for help. Nochlezhka has been successfully taking care of the hungry for a long time - their bus delivers food on weekday evenings to the districts according to the schedule: Slavy Avenue, Ligovsky overpass, Primorskaya and Chernaya Rechka metro stations. Almost every neighborhood has a municipal service that distributes free food stamps to those who are entitled to it, and for the most progressive - catering programs. There is little about them where it is written - you need to call the information desk and find out: for example, in Krasnogvardeisky on weekdays they are fed on Peredovikov Avenue from 9.00 to 10.30, on weekends - on Republican Street. There are also state canteens in the suburbs - Pushkin and Petrodvorets. On Liteiny Prospekt 44, B, for emergencies, there is the Salvation Army, working from 9.00 to 19.00. For a visit, you must have an appropriate bow.
Religious institutions
Almost any religion prescribes to feed the suffering. Therefore, as they say, God himself ordered for free food to turn to the ministers of one or another cult. The most obvious and soul-saving move is Orthodox monasteries. They are located mainly in the Leningrad region: for example, in Tikhvin or the Lodeynoye Pole region - so traveling will help you work up an appetite. Relying on the inner call is not worth it - there is a website with a list of all the churches and courtyards of St. Petersburg and the region. You can taste prasad, a gift, food that is first offered to God in the Society for Krishna Consciousness, in the Railway Workers' House - most likely, it will be something sweet, rice, a milkshake with a banana or sherbet. In the Hesed Abraham Jewish Charitable Center, food is selective - the elderly are helped with food.
Different denominations also have special organizations that feed the needy. The Catholic charitable center "Caritas St. Petersburg" has two canteens: "Tatiana" and in the "Center for Social and medical care homeless." Also implementing the program "Canteen for the needy" charitable Catholic organization "Maltese Relief Service". The Orthodox Center for Spiritual Revival has the same canteen - it works for residents of the Vyborg, Kalininsky and Primorsky districts. Volunteers of the Orthodox Charitable Foundation of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica distribute food from a mobile bus near the Lesnaya metro station.
Needless to say, all these organizations both help those who need it with food and accept help: so that each of us can feed the hungry. For example, in Nochlezhka, one person's lunch costs 33 rubles. Forgoing one dinner at a restaurant can feed 45 people.
To the top thematic table of contents
Thematic table of contents (Walks around Moscow)
I know that for this post I will be branded a corrupt blogger who sold himself for a bowl of soup, but I can’t help but tell you about the successful new places where to eat and how tasty and inexpensive we were on our last walks around Moscow.
A cafe with truly English cuisine has opened on Bronnaya, which is a huge rarity here. This was reported by Afisha, and there were others who also looked for this cafe at the address. It is tiny, next to an Italian pizzeria. The fish-and-chips were already gone when we went in, so we'll have to look again, but there were several types of traditional pies, including meat pies with kidneys. In addition to traditional beer, there were also such English drinks (in bottles) as traditional gum arabic lemonade, rhubarb and burdock root drink, etc. Everything was very tasty. Of the minuses - accommodation. The cafe is located in the entrance, in addition to the counter, there are two tiny tables and a shelf along the wall, so this is for those who like to eat standing up or takeaway. But tasty and interesting. Well, before I never ate in the entrance, I didn’t even drink port wine.
Another newly opened place is varenichnaya on Stary Arbat. Indeed, a bunch of different dumplings and dumplings, plus traditional food, and quite inexpensively. The interiors are made in the pseudo-Soviet style, the waitresses are in a uniform close to the old school: 
Honestly, this Soviet retro got me. The washed-out school dresses on the waitresses do not look very good, and the October badge on the waiters is generally a song. But what is nice, they are all very polite and cheerful - they create a pleasant atmosphere.
But although the Soviet style is tired, it breaks through nostalgia. And I remember such a rug with deer, and we had a rug with bears. Some things are just rarities. You can donate some tape recorders to the museum.
Of the minuses - as it turned out, they have some domestic problems - there is not enough electricity in the kitchen, so they serve part of the dishes not hot enough. But they know such a sin behind themselves and, if they drive the waiters to warm up, they do not deny it. Well, although they have several halls, there may be problems with free seats. But it is inexpensive, and there are many dishes for both adults and children. Well, there are racks with books - you can read while you wait for food. Or bring and put your own. I advise you to order dumplings. They are delicious: it looks like they make them themselves. There are sweet ones, there are savory ones. I liked the assortment of sweet dumplings, among which, oddly enough, they were especially successful with cottage cheese. It would seem that these are the most ordinary, but they turned out delicious. I always appreciate when a chef knows how to cook a simple and well-known dish well. It is easier to succeed with the unknown - there is nothing to compare with. Everything else I do not recommend. Vareniki and tea. Well, if anyone wants to drink, then alcohol of their choice: I rarely drink.
But the soup cafe, on the contrary, is a well-known place, but for the first time we got there. They are located next to the Belorussky railway station (on the contrary, across the now dug-out square), there are a lot of halls, if anything - there are two huge painted bottles in front of the entrance, otherwise the semi-basement is hard to notice. I will not talk about the location and interiors - they have a good website, but I will note the menu. It's just huge. Traditional dishes are of the middle price category, but on the other hand, the menu contains about 50 different soups (!). The cost of a bowl of soup (large, this is not Taras Bulba for you) is 250-300 rubles, but there is an amazing opportunity to take assorted dishes. For 300 rubles, they bring you any three half-sized soups of your choice ... in fact, after that you can no longer eat. Soups are great. Mushroom cream soup was really made from porcini mushrooms, not champignons, the hodgepodge had everything that was supposed to be (otherwise some reach such baseness that they put doctor's sausage instead of kidneys) ... Sweet berry soups made from strawberries, cherries, etc. are interesting. will come again, for example, I was intrigued by the Hawaiian soup with coconut milk.
Schoolyard. Sapa, North Vietnam
Today I will tell you again about something that has nothing to do with the photo above. For photography is spiritual food, but you always want to really eat!
When you live in exotic countries for a while, the question “where to eat tasty” becomes very relevant. When I was in Vietnam and Cambodia for the first time, I only ate local food and only in local establishments, often of a very dubious nature, because. I wanted to experience the real (and not touristic) taste of these countries. But having lived in Cambodia for a month this year, I realized that I really want the usual food - some kind of steak, Caprese salad with mozzarella, at worst pasta or borscht with sour cream. From that moment on, exotic food faded into the background for me. Of course, I always try the local cuisine, but now I prefer to eat something more familiar every day. The turning point came when I started spending most of my time away from home. When you rarely go out, you want exotic. When you travel a lot, the exotic gets in your throat and you want normal food.
Arriving in Vietnam for the eighth (judging by the stamps in the passport) time, I can no longer see all these spring rolls and pho soups. Therefore, from the first day, my friends and I were preoccupied with finding good restaurants. In Hanoi, the Budmo restaurant, which is run by Ukrainian Vadim, served as an outlet for us. We ate at a very decent French restaurant once, but it was so expensive that I didn't remember its name. Here, in the south, in the resort Mui Ne, which many Russian tourists know, everything turned out to be not very simple either. But having visited many institutions, incl. at the suggestion of my brother, who has been living here for 4 years, I can advise something. So, purely for my taste.
Perhaps one of the most adequate cafes in Mui Ne. The Russian guys Ksyu and Sasha are holding. This is not a restaurant, this is a cafe, the cuisine of which is not focused on a quick return on many dishes at once. Therefore, if you come here with a group of 10 people, be prepared to spend 2 hours here. But it's worth it! First of all, it's very tasty. Sasha personally cooks, the Vietnamese only serve in the hall. Secondly, a very cozy, and I would even say, creative atmosphere. It is always a pleasure to chat with the hosts, who will take into account any of your interests - they will exclude from the dishes what you do not eat or vice versa, they will add something according to your preferences. Specialties - pumpkin soup, all sorts of pastas, pies and burritos. Of the minuses - there is no good wine, but you can bring your own + very good cocktails. Not fast (the kitchen is homemade) but very tasty and sincere! More than acceptable for the money - my account for 3 people rarely exceeds $15-20. I highly recommend. Moreover, there is a normal free Internet. If you come, say hello from me, the owners will be very pleased :) It is located 100 meters from the Kim Ngan Hotel. Taxi drivers don’t know the word “chillout”, you have to say exactly “Kim Ngan” and from there 100 meters ahead on foot.
2.Dejavu ( dejavu_muine )
Taxi drivers need to say “deza vu” (they simply do not understand the word “déjà vu”). It is held by a Vietnamese girl, Tuna, who lived in Russia for many years with her parents. The cuisine is half sea food, half Russian. The part that sea food is controversial. Some people like it, some don't. But the Russian menu is great! There is real kvass, dumplings, borscht, okroshka, mashed potatoes with meatballs. The restaurant has a backyard that is only open during the season. Ask there at any time, it's very cozy and quiet. Moreover, in this yard there is a playground with swings, a sandbox and all sorts of ladders / ropes / slides. If you are traveling with children, this is an indispensable plus. My average bill is about $30-35 for three people with a child. Minus - no internet.
3. Luna D "autumno
Italian restaurant. Big and expensive. Holds some Italian. The only place where I ate real caprese in Vietnam, not a parody of it. Pastas, ravioli, focaccia and everything else - just amazingly delicious. Dishes are brought very quickly, the kitchen is clearly focused on serving a large number of visitors. The house wine is not bad, but not that “wah-wah”. A very designer toilet with a coffee table. Unfortunately, there is no internet. The average bill for three with a child is $50-60. By the standards of Mui Ne, this is very expensive, but most likely you will not regret the money spent.
4Swiss Village Resort
Restaurant at a 4 * hotel in the heart of Mui Ne. The hotel is run by Russians. The restaurant is focused on the Russian menu. There is borscht, okroshka, beef stroganoff, etc. Pretty good quality and tasty. But alas, absolutely soulless atmosphere. Design with pathos, but tasteless, there is no spiritual communication either. Everything is strict and formal. The Internet is. Pretty fast, portions are not very big. In general, one of the key places where you can go to eat normal food, but you can’t count on a special pleasure from visiting. Quite expensive, the average bill for three with a child is $40-50. accept bank cards VISA and MasterCard.
5. Lam Tong
Many Russians call this place "Meow-Meow". A very cheap Vietnamese eatery, which was once opened to the public by Russian guys. They, at the request of the owners, translated a funny menu, in the spirit of "Mix Salad = Salad with all kinds of garbage." Located next to the Tien Dat Hotel. Vietnamese cuisine, but very tasty cooked! And it seems to be adapted for foreigners, who are the main visitors here. Very cheap, the bill for three with a child is about $ 15. There is also fresh fish, crabs, shrimp and other sea food. The main place of daily food for so many foreigners permanently living here. If you need to run quickly, tasty and inexpensive to eat - this is usually here. The Internet is caught from the surrounding hotels.
6 Tropical Minigolf
Holding a French. A very pleasant place where you can eat deliciously all kinds of meat (pigs, cows, chickens, fish and other marine reptiles), which you yourself will fry on hot stones. Good wine, free internet. Very nice design and ambiance. Feng Shui. The average check I have is about $ 40 for three with a child.
7. Bo Ke
This is not a restaurant at all, but tables placed on the ocean. Here, right in front of you, on a barbecue, they cook all kinds of marine life that you choose for yourself in aquariums. A specific place, at first glance it seems not very clean and somehow repulsive. But if you want to eat sea creatures, this is the right place in Mui Ne! Relatively inexpensive and delicious. There is no Internet. If you come here around 6-8 pm, be prepared for a full house and waiting for a free table. There are many around similar friend on other establishments with Bo Ke signs (in Vietnamese it means something like “quay”), but the only correct one is the one in which Bo Ke is engraved on stone benches.
Bon appetit:)
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