A review by cubaitlubin
National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

What is a national dish, in an age of increasing globalization? History, memoir, delicious food, travel, community, look to the future. Plenty of diverse histories considered, especially in th chapters on Oaxaca and Turkey. I feel the epilogue was the most powerful piece of writing for me, as the author explored the origins of borsch and to whom it "belongs". She was born in Soviet Russia, and her mom was born in Ukraine. She reckons with these questions of identity, nationality, and shifting symbolism (through borsch) as a response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. I think overall I'm learning I do best with food writing as text, not audio, but this was time well spent nonetheless.