A well-known Romanian vlogger wanted to find out how Ukrainians live, but he had some pleasant surprises, at least in some ways. Although the country has been thrown into chaos by war and huge corruption, and poverty is high, prices are lower than in Romania, and there is an abundance in supermarkets.
Prices in stores in Ukraine are generally close to those in Romania. PHOTO: Unsplash
The well-known Romanian vlogger Cosmin Avram returned to Ukraine, the country where he is these days, after he was there last year. Now he has reached Kharkiv, very close to the Russian border, where the invaders have destroyed much of the infrastructure. However, the big shops and certain areas still look good and life goes on.
Cosmin and his wife wanted to see how the food is and what the prices are at the restaurants in the area and in the supermarket.
“Unfortunately, many shops are closed, that’s the situation. We found a nice place, so we’re going to eat. Here we have Philadelphia sushi and avocado, salmon looks really good, ginger and wasabi”the vlogger said, at first.
The food was served and the quality of the food impressed him. “Done, the meal is complete, the vegetables have arrived, soup, chicken and egg soup and lots of dill. Here we have beef, it looks and smells very, very good and the famous orange juice. We have zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, eggplant with a sauce on top. Andreea ordered another mojito. Enjoy and welcome back to Ukraine. Let’s test the meat, Andreea will come closer to see how it’s done. Perfect. You see. Look, God forbid, and I’m not kidding. She’s perfect. At an incredible price, we’ll tell you at the end.” added Cosmin Avram.
Cheaper than in Romania
Before leaving the restaurant, he gave his verdict. “Even if it looks like an expensive restaurant, a fancy restaurant, know that it is not like that. In Romania I think he pays three times more for this meal. Done, 1617 hryvnias. 180 lei, 36 euros. Let’s film some prices in the supermarket. Besides that, I also want to show you the supermarket, because it looks very, very interesting”Cosmin also said.
In stores, the prices are among the most diverse. While autochthonous goods are sold at lower prices and even much lower than in Romania, there are also very expensive products. On the shelves he also found wines from the Republic of Moldova.
High prices, low prices
Then he also indicated some prices, noting that one leu is equivalent to 9.21 hryvnias (local currency).
“This shows beef salad or Russian salad at 104. In this part we have spilled olives. You simply take it from here, you serve yourself. You put the chicken in the casserole, you weigh them, and that’s it. Many, many varieties of cheese. That’s how spilled eggs are sold. Bee honey, 13 hryvnias. And that seems sugary. 75 hryvnias. Let’s see how much he has. Who understands, if anyone understands. To show it looks good. 350 grams. We have a lot of sausages here. Sausages, ribs. 24, 100 grams. 43 hryvnias, 100 grams. Sausages from there. Pariser, Mortadella. Sure, it’s Pariser. 37 hryvnias, 100 grams. Here we have cooked food. We have a lot of interesting things here. We also have little ones. That’s what it looks like. 33 hryvnias. 34, in fact, 100 grams“, he added.
Further on he found vegetables, but also imported oil and fish, all more expensive. “Vegetables, I see eggplant over there. Roasted peppers. Let’s look at the oil. Sunflower oil, 61 hryvnias. I think it’s the cheapest. No, we have it here at 54. 54, that’s about the price. This is where the prices go. The 2 liter one, 119. I found this one on sale for 48. It’s a bit more… On the opposite side we have olive oil. Extra virgin, 750 hryvnias. 0.75 milliliters. This one is a bit more expensive, 1,100. It has a liter, half a liter, for 800 hryvnias. I also found a slightly better-known brand, one liter, 1,000 hryvnias. It doesn’t look cheap. Tuna Rio Mare. 480. 3 boxes of 80 grams, 480. We also have it by the piece, 100 hryvnias, the box. Very, very interesting things”he says.
There he also found imported sweets, but also local vegetables and fruits.
“The supermarket is very big. Ferrero Rocher. 660 hryvnias, 300 grams. Raffaello, 150 grams, 184 hryvnias. Chocolate, as much as it contains. See what’s here. Here we have the vegetables. Cabbage, 11 hryvnias. Onions, spilled onions, 14-15 hryvnias. The kilogram, I think, because 100 grams is not shown. 16 hryvnias per kilogram of potatoes. Carrot, at 16.60. Here, I think we have red glass. 15 hryvnias. Sweet potatoes, 150 hryvnias. 39, actually 40 hryvnias, the red potato. Lemons, 80 hryvnias per kilogram. Oranges, 59. Bananas, 63 hryvnias per kilogram. Pineapple, 170. Apples, pears, these, 145. Apples, 45 hryvnias. We also have 29, 30 actually. Look how good these tomatoes look. 170 hryvnias per kilogram. The ones next to it are 99. Peanuts, 27 hryvnias, 100 grams”, were other standout products, among several dozen others he reviewed.
Tasty and quality dishes
In the end, the two ate in a restaurant in the area, and the prices seemed very good to them again.
“We found a nice place right in the square, so we’re going to have something to eat. I just placed the order. The lemonade is really good, I think we’ll have another one because we’ve already finished it. It’s simple, lime and mint. The food also came. That’s what it looks like. I took a soup. A spicy Georgian soup. Homemade bread, hot. And Andreea has meat with vegetables. Potatoes, green beans and cilantro. I actually ate here last night too, which is why I know this soup is really, really good. It has red beef noodles, it has beef. A lot of pepper, it’s spicy, it’s hot. The bread is made by them. Very good. Extraordinary. You have to try something like this. She’s brilliant. It costs 3.50 euros. Less than 20 lei. We will tell you the full price at the end“, he added.
The young men ate potatoes, vegetables and beef. In the end, they paid the equivalent of just over 100 lei.
“What I didn’t tell you, the food is served in clay pots. The 2nd course also came. Meat with lots of onions and mushrooms. Look, we also have bees. There are two. They came to eat with me. It’s extraordinary. Here we have a kind of glue. And mushrooms are extraordinary. 3, one more came. Okay, that’s about the bill. 1,022 hryvnias. I ate two people. We are fed up. Somewhere at 23 euros. 116 lei. Very good food. Georgian cuisine. Excellent. Now we return to ours“, he concluded.
Surprises, surprises
The clip posted on his You Tube account gathered almost 45,000 views in less than a day, over 4,000 likes, and hundreds of comments. Most internet users compared the prices with those in Romania, but also in other countries. And while to some they seemed lower than in Romania, others noted that salaries in Ukraine are much lower, and the country is kept alive only by the huge sums of money pumped by the European Union and the USA.
“Could it be from domestic production? Looks good! And the food is good, I liked it when I was in Kiev“, someone wrote. Others proved him right. “The supermarket in Ukraine is cool, it’s perfectly arranged, with Italian food,” remarked another.
“The local ones are cheaper than ours, the imported ones are more expensive than ours!“, someone wrote.
“Even if they are at war, the store is full, and some prices are like ours! We don’t know the purchasing power! What is their morale, have you managed to talk to the locals? Thank you very much!”wrote another.
“Prices are about the same in Los Angeles”
Others found it very expensive, and someone said it rivals the prices in the United States, specifically Los Angeles.
“I’m in Los Angeles. That’s how the prices are around here too. A decent meal is about $30. If you go to a grade A, B and C restaurant, they are cheaper”someone else wrote.
“Very very expensive, 70% of the products are more expensive than here,” observed another. “Not all of Ukraine has these prices”a netizen corrected.
“High prices like in the West, and they don’t have VAT and other taxes invented by Brussels. It can be seen that corporate greed has no borders and no mercy for anyone and anything. And in terms of income, I’m sure that an average salary does not exceed 300 euros, in a word, woes. Good thing there’s money for weapons and wars”was another opinion.
Others noted the quality of the food served in the restaurants, and not a few were those who considered that the prices are below those in Romania. “The prices, some of them are even lower than ours, from the time of Ceausius. Obviously, a bit bigger than three years ago, but you’re right, it’s wartime. Let’s see each other again“, one wrote.
“The food at the end looks very good, its price, for us, is good, that is, a little cheaper than here, but for Ukraine I don’t think it’s really cheap. Georgian soup looks very good, I want the recipe“, asked another.
“It would have been three times more expensive in Romania”
“As expected, a country in the midst of war is much better supplied in terms of the variety of goods in stores, and on top of that, all the food there is much cheaper than the similar ones sold in Romania. In Romania, all prices they are artificially and unjustifiably inflated. What is practiced in Romania is not trade but habit. If you had eaten in a restaurant in Romania exactly what you ordered and consumed at the restaurant there in Ukraine, then be firmly convinced that it would easily have cost you about 300 lei, in no case the equivalent of 177 lei (pay in hryvnias) as was the bill from the respective restaurant where you went to eat. Good luck! And I wish you all the best,” another follower wrote.
“When you have a pension of 25 euros and a salary of 150 euros, these are cheap restaurants for the common people. Most people barely have money for bread and potatoes or flour to make a pita,” it was another point of view.
“If this is what a city in a country at war looks like, you have nothing to comment on“, pointed out another. “Of everything, for all pockets. Well done Ukraine”were just a few of the hundreds of comments.
