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A review by yanareads6969
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen
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!