Russian salad meat is raw meat, and Russians generally eat cured meat raw, because in their opinion, no matter what kind of meat it is, it is cooked and edible after it has been marinated. Its real name in Russia is "Olivier salad" (Russian: салатОливье, salat Olivie), named after the Belgian chef Lucien Olivier who invented this dish.

Russian salad is a delicacy made with raw meat, yellow tomatoes, purple cabbage, lettuce, shredded carrots, raisins, etc. as the main ingredients. The auxiliary ingredients include tomato sauce, mannaise, salt, pepper, Sugar etc. On New Year's Eve Russian salad is often served as a starter to a dinner party with oranges and champagne. There is also a variation called "Capital Salad", which usually differs from the fact that there are no carrots.