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A review by diamondrust
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen
4.0
My sister lent me this book and it took me a while to get around to reading it, but I'm really glad I did. Anya's writing drew me in and kept me interested til the end. She tells both a very personal story of her own connection with Russia through food and also talks about the different decades and political and historical relationships with food. This is the kind of history lesson that I am fascinated by.
It also made me reflect on how differently we have it in America - politics do affect food, but in a very removed, distant corporation-level, which takes time to filter down to us. But it isn't the difference between going into a store with food and a store that has nothing on the shelf to even sell you. It was a completely entirely different world behind the Iron Curtain and the thought of all the death from starvation is boggling.
Also she includes a recipe for palov, of which I ate a variation in Russia, and I think I'd like to try to make again. I still dream about the chicken palov from a Russian woman I stayed with that trip.
It also made me reflect on how differently we have it in America - politics do affect food, but in a very removed, distant corporation-level, which takes time to filter down to us. But it isn't the difference between going into a store with food and a store that has nothing on the shelf to even sell you. It was a completely entirely different world behind the Iron Curtain and the thought of all the death from starvation is boggling.
Also she includes a recipe for palov, of which I ate a variation in Russia, and I think I'd like to try to make again. I still dream about the chicken palov from a Russian woman I stayed with that trip.