CCCP COOK BOOK: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine - Hardcover

FUEL

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0993191118 ISBN 13: 9780993191114

Publisher: FUEL Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

As the Soviet Union struggled along the path to communism, food shortages were commonplace, and both Party authorities and Soviet citizens had to apply every ounce of ingenuity to maximize often-inadequate resources. The stories and recipes contained in the CCCP Cook Book reflect these turbulent times: from basic subsistence meals consumed by the average citizen (like okroshka, a cold soup made with the fermented beverage kvass) to extravagant banquets held by the political elite (suckling pig with buckwheat), with a scattering of classics (beef stroganoff) in between. Each recipe is introduced with a historical story or anecdote from the period, and illustrated using images sourced from original Soviet recipe books collected by the authors, food historians Olga and Pavel Syutkin.
Many of the sometimes extraordinary-looking pictures depict dishes whose recipes used unobtainable ingredients, placing them firmly in the realm of "aspirational" fantasy for the average Soviet household. In their content and presentation, the recipes and illustrations act as windows into the cuisine and culture of the era.
CCCP Cook Book offers an illustrated history of Soviet cuisine told through the stories and popular recipes from the period. The book contains 60 recipes from the Soviet period, including such delicacies as aspic, borscht, caviar and herring, by way of bird's milk cake and pelmeni.

About this title

Review

CCCP Cook Book is an amazing work of culinary history. The book as an object is a marvel... It’s my new "You Must Buy This Book" recommendation for my foodie friends. (Christina Ward BoingBoing)

From Russia with Mayonnaise (Pavel Syutkin NPR)

Food for comrades. (The Guardian Gift Guide)

If you think of the Soviet period in Russia as a culinary desert, a new book in English by the country's most prominent food historians, Olga and Pavel Syutkin, may change your mind (Michele A. Berdy The Moscow Times)

Soviet food nostalgia has taken off in the last few years, as a post-Cold War generation grows up intrigued by a period which many older than them would rather forget. Soviet-style canteens like Kamchatka serve herring in a fur coat to queues of Moscow hipsters,... Olga and Pavel Syutkin’s CCCP Cook Book continues the trend, serving up recipes of Soviet-era classics while delving into the stories behind the dishes to offer a cultural history of the USSR through its food (The Calvert Journal)

Food shortages and limited access to staples like bread, milk, and fresh produce were commonplace in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. Whenever rations are tight, creativity rules. Every day citizens were inspired to invent dishes that sustained them through long winters and hard economic times (Daniela Galarza Eater)

Edition details

• Publisher: FUEL Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0993191118
• ISBN 13: 9780993191114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Murray Damon, Sorrell Stephen