Moscow, and other Russian cities.
The festival is supported by the government of Primorsky Krai. It is organized by the Russian Fishery Company (RFC), Tourist Information Center of Primorsky Krai (Visit Primorye), National Center “Russia” in Primorsky Krai, and the Gastronomic Map of Russia federal project.
Key Results
- Over 40 restaurants and cafes in Vladivostok featured special pollock dishes. In total, over 12,500 portions were sold.
- Nearly 50,000 people visited the festival locations at the Sportivnaya Embankment in Vladivostok within 2.5 days.
- Chefs from 21 restaurants cooked about 9,500 pollock dishes for city sites.
- A total of 169 cafes from the Kroshka Kartoshka chain participated in the festival, serving more than 600,000 guests and selling 8 tonnes of surimi-based crab meat produced by RFC.
- Over 220 tonnes of pollock were sold through federal and regional retail chains during the festival.
- The total volume of products supplied to restaurants and sity events during the festival was 7.5 tonnes.
Pollock in restaurants, outdoor cafes, and in retail stores
Pollock became the star of gourmet dinners, breakfasts, and brunches in restaurants during the festival. Forty Vladivostok’s restaurants and cafes, as well as the House of Russian Cuisine at VDNKh in Moscow, began serving special festival dishes.
The city event was held from May 29 to 31 on the Sportivnaya Embankment in Vladivostok. Guests were welcomed by food stalls and food trucks serving pollock dishes, with music, workshops, and contests rounding out the program. The top-selling items were: pollock with gratin and romesco sauce, Vladivostok-style noodles with pollock, crispy pollock salad, and pollock croquettes with grilled vegetables.
The retail format covered Samberi, Auchan, O’KEY, and Perekrestok chains, as well as Moskva-na-Volne markets. The discounts on products reached as high as 40% in some retail chains. Shoppers could sample pollock at in-store tasting events. Retail chains representatives reported that the sales volume of processed products (chilled surimi containing pollock, dried pollock and pollock roe) has once again more than doubled. Frozen products (whole fish, fillets, portioned cuts, and surimi) showed sales growth ranging from 20 to 56% across various retail chains.
A New Scale of Partnerships
In 2026, the festival expanded its partnerships. The Kroshka Kartoshka chain has joined the project; its crab-flavored filling uses VICI crab meat made from high-quality surimi produced by RFC. Exprodov also participated for the first time. The company provided 150 kg of its products for dishes with pollock at the House of Russian Cuisine at VDNKh. One of these dishes was also cooked and served to guests by chefs, together with their children and grandchildren, during workshops on Children’s Day. Another novelty of the 4th festival was the final of the O!Mega Battle contest. The students who were selected in the previous stages of the contest presented new original dishes made with pollock and pollock roe — supplied by RFC — to the jury. The contestants had a few hours to cook a hot dish, a cold appetizer, and a dessert made with pollock or pollock roe, accompanied by a side dish and a sauce of their choice. Entries included, for example, vegetable stew with pollock served on a bed of pollock roe with Far Eastern nuts, roe pancakes with vegetables, ferns and red caviar, and fish balls. The desserts created by the participants also left a lasting impression. For example, brownies with chocolate-coated pollock roe and orange, or white chocolate truffles with wasabi, raspberries, and pollock roe.
O!Mega Battle is the first culinary skills contest held as part of the gastronomic O!Mega Taste Pollock Festival in Vladivostok. The main objectives of the contest are: raising the prestige and popularity of the chef’s work, developing restaurant culture in the region, and promoting pollock as a healthy food.
The festival partners include the Pollock Catchers Association, RusQuality organization, the Fish Union, Fishery Shipowners' Association, and the processors Meridian, VICI, Putina, Agama, KVEN, Exprodov, and Sweet Life Group.
"We are confident in the quality of this product, its naturalness, and its health benefits. That is why we want pollock to be on every table. The Russian Fishery Company catches pollock in the cold waters of the pristine Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea, and processes it right at sea, preserving the product’s nutritional value",
