'This voyage into culinary myth-making is essential reading... I couldn't love it more!' Nigella Lawson 'Enchanting, fascinating and humorous' Claudia Roden 'Reads like an engrossing unputdownable novel about the perpetual soup of humanity. And it made me think so much!' Olia Hercules ________ In National Dish, award-winning food writer Anya von Bremzen sets out to investigate the eternal cliché that "we are what we eat". Her journey takes her from Paris to Tokyo, from Seville, Oaxaca and Naples to Istanbul. She probes the decline of France's pot-au-feu in the age of globalisation, the stratospheric rise of ramen, the legend of pizza, the postcolonial paradoxes of Mexico's mole, the community essence of tapas, and the complex legacy of multiculturalism in a meze feast. Finally she returns to her home in Queens, New York, for a bowl of Ukrainian borscht -a dish which has never felt more loaded, or more precious. As each nation's social and political identity is explored, so too is its palate. Rich in research, colourful? characters and lively wit, National Dish peels back the layers of myth and misunderstanding around world cuisines, reassessing the pivotal role of food in our cultural heritage and identity. Featuring an epilogue on Ukrainian borscht, recently granted World Heritage status by UNESCO ________ FURTHER PRAISE FOR NATIONAL DISH 'Anya is your perfect guide to the profound subjects of nationalism, food and identity. And she's often funny as hell' René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of NOMA 'Will seduce the gastronomic curiosity of any world traveller' Lawrence Osborne, author of The Forgiven and On Java Road 'A legend of food writing... a must-read of all those who believe in building longer tables where food is what brings us all together' José Andrés 'Revealing and richly detailed... Fans of food and travel writing will want to sink their teeth into this' Publishers Weekly 'In this piquant platter of a book, von Bremzen tackles questions of culture, history, and the meaning of a good meal... Her vivid narrative is packed with intriguing characters' Kirkus Reviews

A James Beard Award-winning writer captures life under the Red socialist banner in this wildly inventive, tragicomic memoir of feasts, famines, and three generations
With startling beauty and sardonic wit, Anya von Bremzen tells an intimate yet epic story of life in that vanished empire known as the USSR--a place where every edible morsel was packed with emotional and political meaning.
Born in 1963, in an era of bread shortages, Anya grew up in a communal Moscow apartment where eighteen families shared one kitchen. She sang odes to Lenin, black-marketeered Juicy Fruit gum at school, watched her father brew moonshine, and, like most Soviet citizens, longed for a taste of the mythical West. It was a life by turns absurd, drab, naively joyous, melancholy--and ultimately intolerable to her anti-Soviet mother, Larisa. When Anya was ten, she and Larisa fled the political repression of Brezhnev-era Russia, arriving in Philadelphia with no winter coats and no right of return.
Now Anya occupies two parallel food universes: one where she writes about four-star restaurants, the other where a taste of humble "kolbasa" transports her back to her scarlet-blazed socialist past. To bring that past to life, in its full flavor, both bitter and sweet, Anya and Larisa, embark on a journey unlike any other: they decide to eat and cook their way through every decade of the Soviet experience--turning Larisa's kitchen into a "time machine and an incubator of memories." Together, mother and daughter re-create meals both modest and sumptuous, featuring a decadent fish pie from the pages of Chekhov, "chanakhi "(Stalin's favorite Georgian stew), blini, and more.
Through these meals, Anya tells the gripping story of three Soviet generations--
masterfully capturing the strange mix of idealism, cynicism, longing, and terror that defined Soviet life. We meet her grandfather Naum, a glamorous intelligence chief under Stalin, and her grandmother Liza, who made a perilous odyssey to icy, blockaded Leningrad to find Naum during World War II. We meet Anya's hard-drinking, sarcastic father, Sergei, who cruelly abandons his family shortly after Anya is born; and we are captivated by Larisa, the romantic dreamer who grew up dreading the black public loudspeakers trumpeting the glories of the Five-Year Plan. Their stories unfold against the vast panorama of Soviet history: Lenin's bloody grain requisitioning, World War II hunger and survival, Stalin's table manners, Khrushchev's kitchen debates, Gorbachev's disastrous anti-alcohol policies. And, ultimately, the collapse of the USSR. And all of it is bound together by Anya's passionate nostalgia, sly humor, and piercing observations.
" Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking" is that rare book that stirs our souls and our senses.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Beyond borscht: 400 recipes including classic Russian cuisine, Azerbaijani pilafs, Armenian lentil and apricot soup, Ukrainian Chicken Kiev, Uzbek lamb kebabs, and much more. PLEASE TO THE TABLE encompasses the exhilarating pleasures of Soviet cooking--of robust Ukranian borschts and classic Russian cuisine, of healthy Georgian grains and yogurts and the delicately perfumed pilafs of Azerbaijan. Its 400 recipes are a revelation. From the Baltic Republics: Cold Veal Meat Loaf with Horseradish Sauce. Pork Chops with Apples Braised in Beer. Carrot Baba. Estonian Rye Cookies. Black Bread, Apple, and Cherry Pudding. From Russia: Sour Cherry Soup. Shchi. Chicken Cutlets Pozharsky. Steamed Salmon with Sorrel and Spinach Sauce. Fried Potatoes with Wild Mushrooms. Blini. Russian Cranberry Mousse. From the Caucasus: Armenian Lentil and Apricot Soup. Grilled Chicken with Garlic and Walnut Sauce. Grilled Trout with Tarragon. Asparagus with Egg, Garlic, and Lemon Sauce. Saffron Pudding. From Central Asia: Asian Radish Salad. Uzbek Lamb Kebabs. Spicy Carrots with Cumin Seeds. Chicken Pilaf with Nuts and Candied Orange Peel. Poached Quinces. From the Ukraine: Borscht with Apples and Beans. Potato, Feta, and Scallion Salad. Chicken Kiev. Roast Pork Loin with Caraway Seeds. Vareniki. Almond Raspberry Torte. Anya von Bremzen, a native of Moscow who emigrated to the West in the mid-1070s, is a food writer and food consultant. John Welchman is a travel and food writer who, like Ms. Von Bremzen, specializes in writing about the former Soviet Union. Together they spent three years working on PLEASE TO THE TABLE, traveling extensively through the former USSR, visiting professional chefs, touring markets, and sampling and gathering dishes.

Born in a surreal Moscow communal apartment where eighteen families shared one kitchen, Anya von Bremzen grew up singing odes to Lenin, black-marketeering Juicy Fruit gum at school, and longing for a taste of the mythical West. It was a life by turns absurd, drab, naively joyous, melancholy and, finally, intolerable. In 1974, when Anya was ten, she and her mother fled to the USA, with no winter coats and no right of return. These days, Anya is the doyenne of high-end food writing. And yet, the flavour of Soviet kolbasa, like Proust's madeleine, transports her back to that vanished Atlantis known as the USSR . In this sweeping, tragicomic memoir, Anya recreates seven decades of the Soviet experience through cooking and food, and reconstructs a moving family history spanning three generations. Her narrative is embedded in a larger historical epic: Lenin's bloody grain requisitioning, World War II starvation, Stalin's table manners, Khrushchev's kitchen debates, Gorbachev's disastrous anti-alcohol policies and the ultimate collapse of the USSR. And all of this is bound together by Anya's sardonic wit, passionate nostalgia and piercing observations. Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking is a book that stirs the soul as well as the senses.