OK to answer a few questions:
The most important one; it turned out to be quail.
Yes it's cold here, but not too bad at the moment - sitting in at about - 5°C.
Yes, there's a fair amount of poverty by UK standards (the average salary in this area is about £250 a month) however the cost of living is much lower and there is a strong culture of living off the land and reduce, reuse, recycle is a way of life - for economic reasons, not environmental. I haven't seen anyone starving in the streets (no beggers at all here, even when it was warmer) and most people seem healthy and fit. A lot of the women are on the thin side, but that's very fashionable here.
I don't speak Russian yet as I've only lived here since late Sept, and two of those weeks I had to be in Dubai.
I work for a Billionaire family, so can confidently say not everyone is poor.
I've seen pigeon on English menus a lot, so that doesn't surprise me. Never tried it tho.
I lived in Hong Kong earlier this year and was fed birds nest soup and rotten eggs dipped in sugar, so rat meat really wouldn't have surprised me.