Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Text by Olga and Pavel Syutkin.
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." –BoingBoing
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.
Featured image is reproduced from CCCP Cook Book.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Eater
Daniela Galarza
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
The Calvert Journal
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 Moscow Times
Michele A. Berdy
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
The Guardian Gift Guide
Food for comrades.
NPR
Pavel Syutkin
From Russia with Mayonnaise
BoingBoing
Christina Ward
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.
STATUS: Out of stock
Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.
In their surprise-hit illustrated history/recipe book, the CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine, noted food scholars Olga and Pavel Syutkin write, "The benefits and flaws of Soviet cuisine were closely interconnected. Centralized government exercised total control over every aspect of Soviet life, and food was no exception. A policy of using standardized recipes was enforced in every public catering establishment. At the time the Soviet Union was the largest country in the world, a multinational empire that spanning the Arctic Circle to the subtropics – it was clear that such an inflexible approach was doomed to failure. Moreover, deficiencies in the trade and distribution system lead to losses and plummeting quality of food. The entire public catering system was based on the principles of underinvestment and fraud. Because of cultural isolation the USSR was oblivious of culinary advances made in the rest of the world – information about new technologies and products, as well as broader developments in gastronomy – simply failed to penetrate its borders." Featured image is shuba (dressed herring), aka "Herring in a Fur Coat." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 5 x 8 in. / 192 pgs / 95 color / 2 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $32.50 LIST PRICE: CANADA $42.5 ISBN: 9780993191114 PUBLISHER: FUEL Publishing AVAILABLE: 9/29/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: Out of stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by FUEL Publishing. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Text by Olga and Pavel Syutkin.
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." –BoingBoing
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.
