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gnrunaway's review against another edition
3.5
I found this book a little bit repetitive. I didn't like the back and forth between present day and the author's memory, I'd preferred a more chronological telling of the events
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Read it on Kindle - loved it. Learned more about Soviet history than I had know before, and loved reading history from the perspective of the people, not the leaders. Loved the food as a way in to understand the culture of the times. Very much enjoyed the memoir of her life - especially given that the author is roughly my age, so it was fun to see the similarity and differences of our lives.
laila4343's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating memoir about growing up in 1960's USSR and her family's past history as well, told through the lens of food. I learned a lot and really enjoyed her narrative voice.
maethereader's review against another edition
Didn’t like the writing style, felt like she was making it unnecessarily complicated. And didn’t feel any emotional connection.
krobart's review against another edition
4.0
See my review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/day-555-mastering-the-art-of-soviet-cooking/
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/day-555-mastering-the-art-of-soviet-cooking/
brandifox's review against another edition
4.0
Family history, a century’s worth of Russian/Soviet history, food history, immigration and a mother-daughter friendship even as they love differently. This book is definitely worth the time.
beastreader's review against another edition
2.0
I picked up this book with the intent that I would not only learn about a person's life but also about Soviet cooking. I have become even more fascinated by all the different cultures and the foods. I have enjoyed most of the books that I have. Telling a story through food is great.
While I can say that I appreciate Anya sharing her story about ehr family, childhood and the food she grew up with, I was disappointed in this book. Only because after reading several others, you could say that my expectations were way high. The first issue I had with the book was the placement or layout of the recipes featured in this book. I would have liked to have seen them spread out through out the chapters than put in the back of the book. I have found by doing this it helps me to really envision the food as the narrator is explaning the food. Second issue is that there are only 10 recipes in this book. One for each chapter of the book. Not to say that I expect this book to have tons of recipes like a cook book but when I am picking up a book about food, I expect it to have a bunch of recipes.
While I can say that I appreciate Anya sharing her story about ehr family, childhood and the food she grew up with, I was disappointed in this book. Only because after reading several others, you could say that my expectations were way high. The first issue I had with the book was the placement or layout of the recipes featured in this book. I would have liked to have seen them spread out through out the chapters than put in the back of the book. I have found by doing this it helps me to really envision the food as the narrator is explaning the food. Second issue is that there are only 10 recipes in this book. One for each chapter of the book. Not to say that I expect this book to have tons of recipes like a cook book but when I am picking up a book about food, I expect it to have a bunch of recipes.
lilygeller's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
diamondrust's review against another edition
4.0
My sister lent me this book and it took me a while to get around to reading it, but I'm really glad I did. Anya's writing drew me in and kept me interested til the end. She tells both a very personal story of her own connection with Russia through food and also talks about the different decades and political and historical relationships with food. This is the kind of history lesson that I am fascinated by.
It also made me reflect on how differently we have it in America - politics do affect food, but in a very removed, distant corporation-level, which takes time to filter down to us. But it isn't the difference between going into a store with food and a store that has nothing on the shelf to even sell you. It was a completely entirely different world behind the Iron Curtain and the thought of all the death from starvation is boggling.
Also she includes a recipe for palov, of which I ate a variation in Russia, and I think I'd like to try to make again. I still dream about the chicken palov from a Russian woman I stayed with that trip.
It also made me reflect on how differently we have it in America - politics do affect food, but in a very removed, distant corporation-level, which takes time to filter down to us. But it isn't the difference between going into a store with food and a store that has nothing on the shelf to even sell you. It was a completely entirely different world behind the Iron Curtain and the thought of all the death from starvation is boggling.
Also she includes a recipe for palov, of which I ate a variation in Russia, and I think I'd like to try to make again. I still dream about the chicken palov from a Russian woman I stayed with that trip.