The Food and Cooking of Russia

A collection of recipes and literary quotations that offers an introduction to the rich culinary history of Soviet Russia.

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Lesley Chamberlain lived in Soviet Russia in 1978–79 and recorded her experiences in the form of two hundred recipes interwoven with details of Russian culture and history and her own practical advice. From blini to cabbage soup, and caviar eggs to “Russian salad,” she reveals the continuity of Russian life, despite political repression, in which the bourgeois cooking of the nineteenth century coexisted with old dishes dictated by the church calendar and new inventions to “make do” with the frequent shortages of vital ingredients under the Soviets. First published in 1982, this fine collection of recipes and entertaining literary quotations has become a classic introduction to the rich culinary history of the region. This new Bison Books edition contains period illustrations and a new introduction by the author.