Mix of cultures, flavors, ingredients, and foods - Something Chef Mark was happily surprised about was the mix of cultures represented at the market in Saint Petersburg - there were a mix of people mainly from former Soviet countries like Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and the food represented that. After walking around the market for a little while, he then stopped to eat some Russian pickles from a friendly lady. Her pickles were delicious. Next he tried a bowl of meat and potato soup with dill. In the end he figured out they were from Tajikistan