The first time I visited Brighton Beach was for the purpose of exploration. I wanted to get a general sense of what Brighton Beach had to offer for the people who work and live there. Before I embarked on my journey, I promised myself to pay attention to the most minute details possible, no matter how good or bad they may seem. As I approached Brighton, the first thing that I noticed was the area smelled very fresh because of the sea breeze that comes from the Atlantic Ocean. Walking around the boardwalk, I enjoyed the smell of the cold oceanic breeze hitting my face and was pleasantly reminded that not everyone has the privilege to experience such good quality air. After walking down the boardwalk to take a few breathtaking pictures and to interview a few senior citizens, I stopped at a café to have brunch. I ordered Russian pancakes or as they’re traditionally called Blinchiki, some Slavic kompot or cold tea, and Ukrainian borsche, a popular red soup. The food smelled fantastic, and it reminded me of how my grandma used to cook food for me during my early childhood. I ate the blinchiki with strawberry jam and some sour cream, both of which gave the blinchiki a sweet, cold, and jelly texture. The amazing aspect about blinchiki is that they’re like an empty canvas that you can paint by adding different condiments to give it any texture and flavor you desire. The kompot was freshly made that day according to the waitress. When I a sipped some of the cold tea, I tasted the flavor of strawberries, apples, and cherries. It was the best thing that I drank that day. I researched that to make kompot you have to boil the fruits in water to release their flavor, and then you have to chill the mixture and add some sugar. Technically, it’s like English lemonade but with a Slavic influence. The kompot smelled like flowers because of all the different herbs that are added to give it a distinct flavor and it tasted like sweet goodness. After I a finished the breakfast portion of my brunch, I started the lunch part. The borsche was served hot to me in a big bowl and with a massive-sized garlic bread loaf. The soup had a rough, creamy texture because it contained a lot of ingredients that are supposed to satisfy a person’s appetite. It had a tomato taste to it because one of the main ingredients in borsche is tomato paste which gives it that famous red color. The meat in the soup melted in my mouth because of how soft it was, indicating that the borsche was properly prepared. After completing my large meal, I thanked the waitress in Russian and was on my way to do some more exploring of Brighton Beach. I wanted to walk underneath the train tracks because it very dirty, thus the smell could be unpleasant. As I walked under the train system, I noticed that there was a lot of trash laying on the floor and that the ground was very muddy and soaked in some nasty water. The smell was pretty bad as well. I interviewed a Ukrainian gentleman about his thoughts on how Brighton Beach smelled. I asked him the following question: “what are your thoughts about the atmosphere of Brighton Beach. Do you think that the community is properly cleaned and is pleasant to walk through?” At first the man was confused about the question I was asking because he said that nobody asked him such a question before. He told me that “many locals treat the neighborhood like a dump” because they show no respect to it by throwing stuff on the ground and not into trash cans. Moreover, he stated that there are many alcoholics in this area because empty liquor bottles litter the streets. I witnessed lots of trash on the ground, especially vodka bottles, so the man I interviewed wasn’t lying about the heavy presence of alcoholics or the people’s disregard to sanitation. I tried to ask the same question to at least ten other mixed individuals but all of them either completely ignored my question or said something along the lines of “why do you care.” It is important to know that I asked this question in Russian to generate the best response from the potential interviewees, but I still received a majority of negative responses. Another question that I asked the locals was their opinion on foreigners or different racial groups—anyone that is not Slavic—coming to visit Brighton Beach. An elder woman by the name of Natasha, who immigrated to Brighton Beach during the 1980s, told me that in the summer tourists generate a lot of income for the community, helping a lot of the local businesses. She told me that she personally has no problem living with different colored racial groups because she supports equality, but other individuals who lived in the former USSR do not like the company of people who do not share the same culture or ideals as them. While I was walking along the boardwalk (one of the videos that I posted on the sight category on our website) I saw a group of Bengali men walking as well. Since they were the only non-Slavic looking people on the boardwalk, many people tried to avoid them or as I keenly noticed the elders would awkwardly stare at them. I knew that Brighton Beach was slightly racially bigoted when I first moved there, but I didn’t expect this attitude to last for so long.
Here is a picture of the bowl of borsche that I ordered. Notice the distinct color of the soup that comes from beets and tomato sauce because it gives it a nice pleasant taste.
Here is a picture of the plate of blinchiki covered in strawberry jam and lightly sprinkled with sour cream. Russian pancakes smell good and taste heavenly.
