A video showing a Russian woman preparing an entire bathtub full of Olivier salad has gone viral, drawing widespread attention online just days ahead of New Year’s Eve — the most significant holiday on Russia’s calendar.
The clip was shared on X on Dec. 29, 2025, by Belarusian media outlet NEXTA, which described the moment as the result of a joke taken literally. According to the post, the woman was asked to make “a lot” of Olivier salad for the holidays and responded by filling a bathtub with the traditional dish instead of the customary oversized bowl many Russian families prepare.
In the video, the bathtub is packed with finely diced potatoes, carrots, pickles, eggs, peas, and meat, all mixed with large quantities of mayonnaise. The scale of the preparation — far beyond what any gathering could reasonably consume — quickly sparked reactions across social media, with users alternating between amusement and disbelief.
Olivier salad, known in Russia as salat Olivye, is a fixture of New Year’s Eve celebrations and carries deep cultural significance. The mayonnaise-based dish is considered an essential part of the holiday table, alongside champagne and mandarin oranges. It is traditionally made in large batches to feed guests throughout the night and in the days that follow.
The salad dates back to the 1860s, when French chef Lucien Olivier created it at Moscow’s prestigious Hermitage restaurant. His original recipe was a luxury dish featuring game meat, seafood, and a proprietary Provençal sauce. During the Soviet era, the recipe evolved into a more accessible version using affordable ingredients such as potatoes, peas, egg, and sausage, cementing its status as a symbol of festive abundance.
The bathtub-sized version exaggerates a familiar holiday trope in Russia, where families often joke about preparing Olivier in near-industrial quantities for New Year’s gatherings. NEXTA’s post highlighted the excess, noting that there was “more than enough for every guest — and probably for the next three holidays too.”
Shared as the countdown to New Year’s begins, the clip has resonated as a humorous reflection of how deeply embedded Olivier salad remains in Russian holiday tradition — and how easily that tradition can turn into a viral spectacle when taken to extremes.
