Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking

A Memoir of Food and Longing

De: Anya von Bremzen

Narrado por: Kathleen Gati

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

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, naively joyous, and 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, Anya and her mother decide to eat and cook their way through every decade of the Soviet experience. Through these meals, and through the tales of three generations of her family, Anya tells the intimate yet epic story of life in the USSR. Wildly inventive and slyly witty, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking is that rare book that stirs our souls and our senses.

Includes a bonus PDF of recipes from the book

Slow start

Starts a little slow but I ended up really enjoying the audio book as it went on.

Brilliant

Well written, extremely interesting and a somewhat unique point of view. The history lesson, combined with brilliant food writing, makes this a joy to listen to. This is even funny in some parts. Warmly recommended.

Captivating look at the USSR

Where does Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high. One of the best autobiographhies, surely. The choice of food as a look into Soviet life was both brilliant and tragic, and Anya's self-realization, even as a young child, is portrayed with all its pain and glory.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking?

When Anya's family emigrated to the USA, and she went to an American supermarket for the first time. I was struck by the idea that (paraphrasing) there was no meaning behind the food, you could just get what you wanted when you wanted it, and how she longed for the intimate meaning of the foods she enjoyed in the USSR, even though it would mean waiting hours in line for it if you could get it at all.

What about Kathleen Gati’s performance did you like?

All of it! She was an incredible narrator choice; I will definitely check out more of her performances!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both!

Any additional comments?

READ THIS BOOK! If you're interested in Soviet history, food, or simply the coming of age bio, this book will appeal to you.

Hilarious, Heartbreaking, Brilliant

This book was recommended to me by a friend who gave it mixed reviews. No mixed review on my part. This book is fabulous and the performance the same. I wasn't sure initially what I would be reading, but if I had just read the sub-title I would have known exactly where this was going. Using food as focus, a metaphor and a history was just brilliant and brought humanity to the start-to-finish, Soviet story of unending, government-inflicted disaster.

Ms. Bremzen's writing skills in this book are superb in her rolling repetition of foods, politicians and atrocities. The only thing missing from this history is the good, the bad and the ugly of the impact of religious faith on the Soviet psyche. There's a little mentioned from the Muslim hinterlands, but not much about the Old Believers, the Orthodox or the Baptists that, just like food, were an anchor to the citizens during the last turbulent century.

Kathleen Gati's Russian accent was perfect, at least to my Anglo ear. I never failed to smile when was speaking English with the classic accent, especially the elite boarding school teacher. "Vake up my little communists!"

If I were a high school / college history or lit teacher, this book would be on my reading list so that left-leaning students would get a taste of the universal, bitter fruit, not mention bread, meat and veggies of Communism.

Wonderful Book, Excellent Performance

Would you listen to Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking again? Why?

Again? Weird question. It's a fantastic book though. Engrossing memoir of a Soviet childhood told in an interesting way.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking?

Hey, how about you just let me write a review instead of asking dumb questions?

What about Kathleen Gati’s performance did you like?

She didn't over act and she did all the accents beautifully. I only noticed her in a positive way.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sure. Hey, Audible, these questions are dumb. A lawyer would object to them as leading, and they'd never hold up.

Any additional comments?

I am the walrus, coo coo ka-choo.