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plaidpladd's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Hard to rate this book because I feel like the beginning about the author's family history in Belarus, and escaping the USSR are really, really good, but the later sections that transition into straight memoir about the author's own life are weaker. The concept of a memoir centered around food is great, though, and the food writing itself is good even if almost none of the recipes sounded good to me lol (I'm a picky eater).
mauryneiberg18's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting, but not captivating. I would have liked recipes for some of the foods he talked about but didn’t learn to cook. I’m shocked that a (nonJewish) Ukrainian would make vegetarian borscht. All the borscht I’ve eaten in Western Ukraine has had meat in it.
chicagobob's review against another edition
3.0
A memoir of a Russian (Belarusian) Jew who left the Soviet Union for the US as a boy together with his family. I rarely read memoirs, but this was quite interesting. The food part isn't as exciting as a foodie might hope. In the end, they ate the food of the 1970s-1980s Soviet Union.
internationalkris's review against another edition
3.0
I really appreciated Boris Fishman' story of immigration, family and the bonds that come from sharing a culinary culture.
eelsmac's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
zhzhang's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely love this book. The author's writing is so beautiful as well as thought-provoking that I want to finish it all at once but also want to keep reading it. As an immigrant myself, I feel connected in a lot of parts that mentioned by the author. For his family, food brings all of them together. The lady who took care of his grandfather is the key of the family, I feel. The chapter that the author and the lady went back to hometown is the most impressive. Great read!
dray's review against another edition
3.0
Well worth reading, spanning the time period from pre ww2 until recently, the story is a nuanced look into the jewish immigrant from Russia experience, with food a main focus.
abookishtype's review against another edition
4.0
My favorite kind of family memoir is one that is as much about food as it is about the people and their experiences. Years ago, I read and loved Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, by Anya von Bremzen. I’ve been hunting around for something similar since. When I read an excerpt from Savage Feast, in which Boris Fishman discusses the mix of smugness and shame he feels when he is the person on a plane with dozens of tinfoil bundles of profoundly garlicky food, I knew I needed to read the rest of the memoir. Like von Bremzen, Fishman offers recipes and memories from Russian history. He adds his own journey through cultural schizophrenia, heartbreak, and depression to acceptance and love along with the memories and recipes. Like all good food-based memoirs, this one made me hungry; I flagged a few of the recipes to try out in my kitchen...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
sophierayton's review against another edition
3.0
I had no idea who the author was, nor was I familiar or particularly interested in Russian history and cooking, and yet, this was recommended on a podcast so I thought I'd give it a go and thought it was really good. I learned a lot and had fun while doing so.
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