The Elixir of the Peasantry

People often ask me what I eat while I'm training, if there are foods I choose for pre-race, in-race and post-racial nutrition. I tell these people they're asking the wrong question. What you should be asking is, "What do you drink?"

Kvas fermenting in a jar

The answer, as any reader of this should know by now, is kvas - a hearty, low-alcohol beverage made by fermenting black bread. It's the perfect balsam to rehydrate the weary soul of the proletarian athlete. It's like Guinness made an energy drink.

There are two types of kvas - the mass-produced kind you buy in the store, and the kind you find on almost every street corner being sold by old women. They taste different - the first is more like beer and cola, the second like beer and hard apple cider. It's because the first is really a type of soda that has been made to resemble brewed kvas, whereas the second is actually fermented and brewed alongside beer at the local brewery.

To celebrate the Obama-Medvedev love fest, Coca-Cola was offering Kvas for a limited time in Whole Foods stores in New York. More infos here.

If you are a resident of New York and see this, I will pay you back warmly and graciously and maybe even with some money.