Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking - Book Review

Reading Anya von Bremzen's memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking is like getting a Russian culinary education and a Russian history lesson in one. The book takes you through 10 decades of Russia starting in 1910 as seen through the eyes of von Bremzen's mother and von Bremzen herself. And each decade also has its own food.

Russia has an interesting history, and the author has an interesting relationship with her home country. She lives in America now but still has a special affinity with Russia due to her good food memories, despite some of the bad memories. I didn't think that all of the food von Bremzen talked about sounded good (I can't stand reading about "aspic". Just the word "aspic" makes me want to throw up.), but it was interesting to read about how food changed in Russia depending on the economy and who was in power.

Should you choose to throw your own Russian party, the last section of the book, "Mastering the Art of Soviet Recipes", includes 10 recipes (one for each decade).

While the book didn't inspire me to want to get in the kitchen and cook some traditional Russian dishes, it did make me want to read other Russian memoirs and books about Russia's history.

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking is published by Broadway Books. I received a free review copy through the Blogging for Books program for my honest review.