Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 16, 2013 Daisy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russia-ussr, favorites-of-all-time, food, east-bloc-memoir, food-memoir-with-recipes, aroundtheworld2013

This book should be taught in school history courses. It is an exceptional resource for Soviet history, it's well-written and well-researched. But most of all, it's accessible, nostalgic without being cloying or overly-sentimental, and it's touching. It happens to cover some of the subjects that interest me most: food, Russian/Soviet history, mother-daughter relationships. This book could've been written for me. I first took it out from the library, but I saw immediately I wanted to own it.

Each ...more

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Dec 11, 2016 Katie rated it liked it

Shelves: female-author, kindle, history, ___asia, non-fiction, _russia

In this book, the author recounts her family's history alongside the history of the Soviet Union. The author is a food writer, so much of the book also focuses on memories related to food.

I learned a lot about the history of Russia and the Soviet Union and found it really fascinating. I have to say that none of the food described in the book sounded very good until she started talking about recipes from some of the more southwestern Asian Soviet Republics.

There was something about the style in ...more

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Apr 29, 2014 Sarah rated it really liked it

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and googling images of Lithuanian branch cake, fish in aspic, and herring under a fur coat. What better way to share history than through food, in this case a madeline poisoned with ideology. A history of the USSR told through family memories, personal reflections, and gustatory delights covered in mayonnaise. As an emigrant asked to share her memories of the USSR to a TV audience in 2011, Anya asked, “But isn’t Moscow full of people who remember the USSR ...more

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Dec 01, 2016 Ryan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, borrowed, audiobooks

I've long had this quiet desire to visit the culturally-rich (yet WILDLY intimidating) land of Russia. This book stoked that quiet desire immensely.

I'm also really craving borscht now... ...more

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Sep 14, 2013 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Shelves: foodie, memoir, nonfiction, travel, cooking

What better way to tell the story of Soviet life for the past one hundred years than through the food of the time? Anya Von Bremzen brilliantly intermingles stories of her family with food stories and recipes to create this excellent book.*

*Cautionary note: This is just my very-humble opinion) I didn’t see a single recipe, unfortunately, that I wanted to try or even copy down. Lots of food that was as bleak as the gray Soviet lives.

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