6. Food!

[Alisha]

I had no idea what tartar cuisine was before reading the book.

And I still really don't know what it is.

It seemed that Rosa spent much more time talking about what it WASN'T, or explaining why she couldn't cook it. Much of it was due to circumstances- I completely get that if you can't get the ingredients, you can't cook certain things.


But despite her circumstances, even when the ingredients available weren't the issue, Rosa Herself didn't seem to know much about tartar cuisine.

[Cheryl]

ROSA WAS THE DISH OF THE TARTAR CUISINE, AND HER DAUGHTER AND GRANDDAUGHTER WERE THE DESSERT!

[Ashley]

I thought the title--Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine--was deliberately ironic because Rosa didn't actually know much about Tartar cuisine but THOUGHT she did. And, well, that sort of applies to Rosa in general. Utterly clueless at her own evil but convinced that all must conform to her views. In short, it reflects her self-aggrandizing tendencies.

Also, in the end, she's reduced to "freeing metal countertops from encrusted bits of food," as she waits for Aminat to return. Hottest dishes of the tartar cuisine to encrusted bits of food on counters. Huh.

[Diana S]

I thought the title, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine were referring to all the Kalganow Women: Rosa, Sulfia , Aminat, and Lena; The Tartar Women! I didn't think it was referring to the food much but to the culture of being these particular Tartar women.