# Identify this food product **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448 "2007-03-03T19:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/1 "2007-03-03T19:20:28Z")
Pronounced [kaf-fee-ah] or [kah-fee-uh]. It is a liquid that looks like thick milk or yogurt or perhaps a soy product. Maybe it smells bad. On an episode of Law and Order CI a victim makes a health shake out of this product plus almonds and kelp. I’ve googled the word based on spelling variants based on how the characters were pronouncing the word but I’ve had no luck. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/2 "2007-03-03T19:22:46Z")
[Kefir.](http://www.kefir.net/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/3 "2007-03-03T19:25:24Z")
from Merriam Webster on line: > [@](#): > > Kefir > Main Entry: ke·fir > Pronunciation: \ke-'fir; 'kē-fr > Function: noun > Etymology: Russian > Date: 1884 > : a beverage of fermented cow’s milk on preview: TOO SLOW AGAIN! ---
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/4 "2007-03-03T19:52:14Z")
Thanks! I’m gonna have to try this. Does anyone have any experience eating it? How does it taste? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/5 "2007-03-03T21:36:32Z")
[QUOTE=neorxnawange] Thanks! I’m gonna have to try this. Does anyone have any experience eating it? How does it taste? [/QUOTE] It’s good. Tangy, fruity, good for you. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/6 "2007-03-03T21:55:06Z")
[QUOTE=neorxnawange] Thanks! I’m gonna have to try this. Does anyone have any experience eating it? How does it taste? [/QUOTE] Well, you drink it, and in the US it is sold as “buttermilk” in every single grocery store. US buttermilk isn’t true buttermilk but is actually almost identical to kefir in taste and composition, at least unflavored kefir manufactured and sold in soviet and post-soviet Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/7 "2007-03-03T21:55:13Z")
It’s like yogurt. It is yogurt, actually. Tangier than Dannon, not necessarily tangier than organic brands. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/8 "2007-03-03T22:03:44Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Well, you drink it, and in the US it is sold as “buttermilk” in every single grocery store. [/QUOTE] Not true. There are several traditional stores that carry kefir products, as well most health food grocery stores. [Harris Teeter](http://shop.mywebgrocer.com/shop.aspx?&sid=14992312&sid_guid=ea9f39ca-a210-44f5-8598-05ce8d6ca16f&strid=C601958&ns=1) offers at least two varieties. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/9 "2007-03-03T22:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Not true. There are several traditional stores that carry kefir products, as well most health food grocery stores. [Harris Teeter](http://shop.mywebgrocer.com/shop.aspx?&sid=14992312&sid_guid=ea9f39ca-a210-44f5-8598-05ce8d6ca16f&strid=C601958&ns=1) offers at least two varieties. [/QUOTE] Not true as in buttermilk is **not** sold everywhere in the US? or not true as in buttermilk is not like kefir? I didn’t claim you couldn’t get the stuff branded as “Kefir” in the US. However, it tends to be entirely unlike Russian kefir and more like the original authetic stuff it derived from – weird mountain yogurt. American non-low-fat buttermilk is about as close as you can get to Russian kefir – i.e. I doubt I’d be able to tell them apart. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/10 "2007-03-03T22:54:13Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Not true as in buttermilk is **not** sold everywhere in the US? or not true as in buttermilk is not like kefir? I didn’t claim you couldn’t get the stuff branded as “Kefir” in the US. However, it tends to be entirely unlike Russian kefir and more like the original authetic stuff it derived from – weird mountain yogurt. American non-low-fat buttermilk is about as close as you can get to Russian kefir – i.e. I doubt I’d be able to tell them apart. [/QUOTE] Not true as in this statement is not true. Bolding mine. > [@](#): > > Well, you drink it, and in the US it is sold as “buttermilk” \*\*in every single \*\ ***grocery store.** It’s not sold as buttermilk. It is sold as kefir. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/11 "2007-03-04T02:01:34Z")
Wait, so Kefir and buttermilk are the same thing, or they taste the same? Do they have the same live culture probiotic benefits, or does buttermilk not have that because it’s pasturized? ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/12 "2007-03-04T04:56:31Z")
[QUOTE=neorxnawange] Thanks! I’m gonna have to try this. Does anyone have any experience eating it? How does it taste? [/QUOTE] Awful. At least the stuff I was served was. The Russian kid I was living with liked it, though. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/13 "2007-03-04T05:45:59Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] It’s not sold as buttermilk. It is sold as kefir. [/QUOTE] Many different countries call many different things “kefir” to the best of my knowledge. My claim is that which is Russian kefir is almost identical to what in US is sold as “buttermilk” (which IS NOT really buttermilk to begin with but that’s a different story). Bulgarian Kefir for example, might not have a US counterpart. This argument is silly – you’re not going to argue that “moloko” is not sold in the US under the name of “milk” in every grocery store, are you? ---
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-food-product/394448/14 "2007-03-04T07:15:41Z")
OK - I just purchased some kefir and I am drinking it right now. It is Lifeway brand made in Illinois. I got berry flavor. It is thick like (American) buttermilk and tastes like a rich and acidic yogurt. It is quite good. I’ll be mixing it with granola for breakfast this week. I imagine the unsweetened variety tastes like a strong plain yogurt.