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A review by bent
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen
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.