vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #619 / Special reports / Reading article...

“People who share food can not be enemies,” asserted Roman Ivanishchev, president of the Far Eastern association of restaurant and hotel businesses, during a battle between military cooks of the US and Russian navies in Vladivostok on May 7.

The association, together with the US Consulate General in Vladivostok and the Pacific Fleet commanders, decided to launch a project called ‘World’s Cuisine”’ and did not wait long for the first competition – in which the destroyer USS Stethem anchored in Vladivostok participated in as part of the Victory Day celebrations in Russia.

“This is the first international military cooking contest in Russia. We chose it to be a sandwich-making competition where each of the cooks could show creativity and national character filling slices of bread with the same products,” Ivanishchev revealed.

To make the contest even more intriguing, the organizers invited a Vladivostok restaurant cook to join the two naval cooks.

25 minutes were given to Vitaly Razomazov, representing the Pacific Fleet of Russia, Michael Vira, defending cooking skills of the destroyer USS Stethem and Ilya Posokhin, displaying the talents of Vladivostok cooks, to slice, mix, and pack their sandwiches with peppers, smoked ham, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers.

When finally ready and decorated, the three pieces of culinary art and inspiration were distributed to the jury to taste and judge.

Meanwhile the cooks, nervous and in anticipation, shared their impressions. “It was last minute observation for me and then first class planning how to make my sandwich,” said Michael Vira. He mentioned that he had participated before in similar navy contests in the United States.

Vitaly Razomazov said that Russian sailors do not consider sandwiches a serious meal and therefore he rarely cooks them. “I prefer to cook main course dishes and our sailors love my borsch,” he smiled modestly.

Ilya Posokhin revealed that he was very excited to participate in such a project and was, from time to time, looking at the table of his American rival. “I was curious what he was doing there but it was a quick glance because I was busy with my sandwich,” he said. By the way, the two later exchanged their professional knifes in memory of the event.

Michael Vira’s sandwich won in the category ‘Original serving’ while Posokhin’s sandwich received a prize for ‘National character’. The ‘Original taste’ award was captured by Razomazov.



The contest turned out to be so tasty and exciting that a few minutes after the end of the official competition, three Pacific Fleet officers and three USS Stethem officers headed by the ships’ captain Paul Lyons took to the sandwich-making tables. While the officers were busy making cucumber-sails and tomato islands, the event’s guests tasted Russian traditional dishes served for them in the hall.

Russian cuisine offers snacks such as pickled cucumbers, pickled cabbage with cranberry, smoked sliced herring, rye bread sandwiches and others, which can seem strange to American taste buds but have one thing in common – they all go well with vodka, a traditional Russian drink. Even if some American guests from the Stethem hesitantly tried the unusual Russian snacks, they resolutely gave tribute to vodka and not just once during the event. Russian officers willingly joined their American guests.

“Such contests can unite the navies because they combine two man’s duties - to feed and to defend,” Ivanishchev concluded revealing that similar contests will follow this pioneer project.