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alsoannabanana's review against another edition
3.0
Really 3.5. Enjoyed learning more about the USSR. The history bits were fascinating but the food seemed to fall off at the end.
grete_rachel_howland's review against another edition
4.0
A delightful read and very educational. I was a bit disappointed that the frame of 'cooking through the decades' faded away pretty quickly after the first chapter (perhaps incorporating the recipes into their respective chapters rather than grouping them at the end would have helped address this), but the writing is elegant and von Bremzen's family's stories are compelling.
yanareads6969's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
I loved the concept of this book - a mix of Soviet history and personal memoir through the prism of Soviet cooking/eating habits. The chapters on 1910s, 1970s, and 1990s balanced these elements best. However, don't go into this thinking it's Julie and Julia (Yulia and Yulichka?), there is often more history than food, sometimes with a lot of tangents.
Also, what a crime to not spend more time on dacha history/culture and food, especially as how it related to Soviets learning to grow their own foods to compensate for the lack of it in stores. Growing veggies then canning them, treks to pick mushrooms and jar them, picking berries to turn into jams, drunk fishing excursions, shish kebabs with dacha friends, etc - for this ex-Soviet, the dacha is crucial to the nostalgia.
I did appreciate the recipes and hope to try some of them and other foods mentioned in the book (pictures would have been great). Don't read this hungry!
Also, what a crime to not spend more time on dacha history/culture and food, especially as how it related to Soviets learning to grow their own foods to compensate for the lack of it in stores. Growing veggies then canning them, treks to pick mushrooms and jar them, picking berries to turn into jams, drunk fishing excursions, shish kebabs with dacha friends, etc - for this ex-Soviet, the dacha is crucial to the nostalgia.
I did appreciate the recipes and hope to try some of them and other foods mentioned in the book (pictures would have been great). Don't read this hungry!
mimima's review against another edition
3.0
Like a cookbook, there are parts in here that are wonderful and parts that weren't so fascinating. I enjoyed the memoir about Soviet Russia and the way that von Bremzen traced her family history through the revolution and into current Russia. However, there were also parts that really dragged.
bent's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. I have a bit of a fascination with the Soviet Union - growing up in the west in the '80s, it seemed so mysterious and foreboding. It's interesting to discover what it was like to grow up there. I didn't realize that things were a lot different after Stalin - I knew that Stalin was a horrible dictator, but our stereotype of the Soviet Union even afterwards was one of disappearances and terror, with a population that was constantly being monitored, much like in Orwell's 1984. It's interesting to hear how it felt to grow up there, and how the atmosphere changed over the decades.
The book is more memoir than cookbook, which is fine with me as I'm not much of a cookbook guy. I had previously read CCCP Cook Book : True Stories of Soviet Cuisine which maintained its focus squarely on the food. The two books complement each other well. I definitely recommend this book if you're interested in hearing about what it's like to grow up in the Soviet Union. von Bremzen pulls no punches over her depiction of the Soviet Union under Stalin and the long shadow that he cast, but I found equally fascinating the accounts of subsequent leaders and how their policies and personalities affected people's lives. A very interesting book and one that I heartily recommend.
The book is more memoir than cookbook, which is fine with me as I'm not much of a cookbook guy. I had previously read CCCP Cook Book : True Stories of Soviet Cuisine which maintained its focus squarely on the food. The two books complement each other well. I definitely recommend this book if you're interested in hearing about what it's like to grow up in the Soviet Union. von Bremzen pulls no punches over her depiction of the Soviet Union under Stalin and the long shadow that he cast, but I found equally fascinating the accounts of subsequent leaders and how their policies and personalities affected people's lives. A very interesting book and one that I heartily recommend.
scritchley's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best food memoirs I've read! I did this one as an audiobook, and the narrator had a pretty great Russian accent, which really put me in the right headspace for contemplating all of these Soviet dishes and memories.
This was one of the least self-centered memoirs I've ever encountered. The author spends a great deal of time telling the story of her mother's experience growing up in Soviet Russia in addition to her own life as she and her mom move to the US during her childhood but still keep ties to family and friends in Russia throughout her life. So it's a mother-daughter combo memoir, but it's also a memoir of Russian history as it played out in the lives of regular people. The book is loosely structured around these dinner parties that von Bremzen and her mother host organized around a different decade of Russian history throughout the 20th century, so we learn about the revolution and every leader of the country. I would love to learn more about the Stalinist food minister, Anastas Mikoyan, who was responsible for the ubiquitous cookbook "Book of Tasty and Healthy Food" that von Bremzen and her mother had during her childhood. The food writing was also exquisite and filled with such longing and respect for the dishes of nostalgia. This book has a lot of heart and expertly navigates the difficulty of feeling patriotism and pride for one's upbringing while also knowing how terrible it was.
This was one of the least self-centered memoirs I've ever encountered. The author spends a great deal of time telling the story of her mother's experience growing up in Soviet Russia in addition to her own life as she and her mom move to the US during her childhood but still keep ties to family and friends in Russia throughout her life. So it's a mother-daughter combo memoir, but it's also a memoir of Russian history as it played out in the lives of regular people. The book is loosely structured around these dinner parties that von Bremzen and her mother host organized around a different decade of Russian history throughout the 20th century, so we learn about the revolution and every leader of the country. I would love to learn more about the Stalinist food minister, Anastas Mikoyan, who was responsible for the ubiquitous cookbook "Book of Tasty and Healthy Food" that von Bremzen and her mother had during her childhood. The food writing was also exquisite and filled with such longing and respect for the dishes of nostalgia. This book has a lot of heart and expertly navigates the difficulty of feeling patriotism and pride for one's upbringing while also knowing how terrible it was.
aditurbo's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic, funny, fascinating, full of emotion - a wonderful idea, masterfully executed. This book looks at the political, historical, social and cultural changes that went over the Soviet Union during the 20th century (and the early 21st century), by following the changes in Russian food culture and offering an engaging family story - that of the author's. Bremzen is an expert on food, certainly, but is also a first-rate storyteller. She created here an unforgettable read that will make you laugh and cry, and very, very hungry.
abookishtype's review against another edition
4.0
For the past two weeks, I’ve been having Kathleen Gati read me to sleep with Anya von Bremzen’s Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing. Von Bremzen was born in Moscow in the early 1960s and left in 1974 with her mother, emigrating to New York. Since the day she left, von Bremzen has been chasing memories of her Soviet youth through food. Proust’s madeleine is her touchstone. In this memoir, von Bremzen writes the entire history of her post-Revolution family from the 1910s through the fall of the USSR. Like many food memoirs I read, I wish that this one came with scratch and sniff sections or a gift basket that came with the copy of the book I ordered. (I listened to the book on Scribd and decided that I needed a print edition for my library.) This book is delicious...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
poetryrose's review against another edition
5.0
A gastronomic walk through 20th century Russia. A truly rewarding read.