The Salt Magazine

What it is

The Salt Magazine (Журнал Соль) is one of the biggest Russian-language food channels on Telegram, with more than 140,000 subscribers. Its bio modestly calls it "the brightest channel about food"; according to Antenna Daily, it's run by restaurant journalist Ivan Glushkov. He writes in the first person: where he went, what he tasted, what he cooked at home.

The feed is organised with hashtags: #соль_рецепт for recipes, #соль_планынавыходные for weekend food events, and #спб and #волга for St Petersburg and the Volga region.

Why we picked it

Because it's more than a list of restaurant openings. Alongside the news you regularly get pieces on ingredients and regional cooking. One example is a post on the season for shchanitsa, or kroshevo: he explains that these are the tough outer green cabbage leaves and how much they matter to the cooking of Pskov, Novgorod, Vologda, Kostroma, Yaroslavl and Ivanovo. When a reader asked in the comments what concentrated milk is, a whole post followed — it turns out to be a close relative of condensed milk.

The recipes are home cooking with personality, like a fluffy Hong Kong street-café omelette "with a few modifications of my own". Travel notes read like ready-made itineraries: how he'd celebrate Yerevan's 2,808th birthday, from sparkling wine in a garden to a walk through the old Kond district and Armenian fruit brandies; or a holiday idea — the shortest route through every pizzeria in Italy.

There are restaurants with a past, too: Moscow's Uzbekistan restaurant is marking its 75th anniversary with a lunch built from its original menu. A new place called Sula is presented as chef Anton Rubtsov extending the Kostroma recipes he cooks at Groza. It's a commercial channel with ads, and wine and spirits come up often — worth knowing.

Where to start

• Open #соль_рецепт and pick something for the weekend, such as the Hong Kong omelette.
• Find the shchanitsa post; it's a good way into north Russian cooking.
• Read the Yerevan note if you're planning a trip.
• Follow #соль_планынавыходные if you live in Moscow or St Petersburg.
• Check the comments: readers' questions sometimes turn into posts.

Who it's for

Home cooks who want to know more about ingredients. People choosing restaurants in Moscow, St Petersburg and Volga cities. Food travellers who plan trips around eating. And anyone curious about Russia's regional cooking beyond big-city trends. The text is Russian, so you'll want a translator if you don't read it.

Quick answers

Who runs it? According to Antenna Daily, restaurant journalist Ivan Glushkov; posts are written in the first person.

Restaurants or cooking? Both: restaurant news, recipes tagged #соль_рецепт and pieces on ingredients.

Are there ads? Yes, the bio lists an advertising contact.