However, the cost of ice cream has grown exponentially with average prices rising by 15%, more than 360 rubles ($5.627) per kilogram. Business may be booming, but what about people’s preference and taste. Let’s take a look at what kind of ice creams Russians have a soft spot for.
Impulsive Buyers:
Russians show great interest in so-called impulse ice cream buying. It means that they buy under the influence of a spontaneous desire to eat it on the spot.
Mostly such ice creams include ice cream cups, popsicles and various ice cream cones. Their sales on the Russian market have increased by 15%.
Impulse ice cream sales in Russia constitute to 70% of total sales. However, ice cream cakes and boxed ice creams are less popular amongst Russian consumers and their sales are going down.
Local Produce:
According to a global study of consumer preferences, 68% of Russians choose domestically produced products and only 10% choose international brands.
Russian ice cream vendors have moved forward from traditional ice creams that were popular during the soviet times, although they are still available today: popsicles, ice cream wafer briquettes and chocolate chip cones.
However, the recent “Moscow Ice Cream” festival which took place from last week of June till mid-July saw some 150 different kinds of ice cream from 30 producers of different Russian regions.
There were many non-traditional and exotic ice cream flavors such as beacon, dark beer, champagne, potato, Japanese ice cream and even tea flavor. The festival was attended by about 5 million people.
Eat Natural:
A variety of ice cream is great, it is even staggering. However, not every Russian delights in this, feeling nostalgic for the ice cream available in the Soviet times.
They say the best product is the one which has been “tested by time.” In soviet times you could eat “natural ice cream available for 19 cents.”
Alas, some skeptics claim that “real” ice cream is nowhere to be found nowadays. Until the mid-1980s, the formulation of its preparation was strictly regulated: only natural and condensed milk, gelatin, butter, sugar and vanilla went in to prepare delicious creamy ice cream.
Nowadays, some manufacturers have successfully managed to recreate “taste of childhood” and produce ice creams such as “48 cents bar.”
At the end of 1980s, when a food crisis broke out, butter was replaced by margarine. Currently, manufacturers are willing to replace milk fat for plant fat because the second option is at least three times cheaper.
However, the “Union of Russian Ice Cream” assures people not to believe the “horror stories” of current manufacturing, but rather read carefully the description and ingredients before purchasing.
If the label says “cream,” the composition should have no vegetable fats just as “Plombir” is 100% natural milk product.
