Since I often write about the overlap between Soviet food and Jewish life/food, I started thinking about how Jewish holiday foods may have started to develop in the Soviet Union, had it been permitted — much like it has here in North America. Since zakuski — appetizers — are such an important part of the Russian celebratory table, I developed these mushroom savoury hamantaschen, with […]
(A version of this appeared in the February issue of my newsletter, the Soviet Samovar.) Winter came late this year — it only properly snowed in early January and I finally felt like I could breathe again. Winter has always been my favourite season, and now I rely on that blanket of snow to, quite literally, blanket my climate anxiety for a few months every year.
Why I stopped cooking Russian soups – on habits and muscle memory Continue Reading
The next book on my Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10 list is Anya von Bremzen’s culinary memoir, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing, which brings fresh meaning to the food on our tables.
Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10: Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking Continue Reading
It starts, as these things so often do, with food. My (non-Jewish) partner and I, recently reunited after a short separation, in the sad bachelor apartment where he had temporarily landed. Where familiar lonely kitchen things still glared at me woefully, bereft of their mates that had landed up in my kitchen. Where we bumped into each other, all corners and angles and elbows still
Stumbling into Syrian cuisine while searching for a Soviet-Russian seder tradition Continue Reading
I finally made the kompot. What’s kompot? Russian kompot is essentially a homemade fruit juice. It’s been around for centuries and is popular in Russia and the former East Bloc. I only recently learned that what I always thought was kompot was actually compote, which is also made with cooked fruit, but has less liquid and is eaten, rather than drunk. Compote is French, and
Russian Kompot: I’m probably doing it wrong (with recipe) Continue Reading
Are you a food writer? Do you tweet? Josh Ozersky, Time food writer, has something to say to you. You’re boring. Your tweets suck. Food writers on Twitter suck. There. Phew, done. Said. Finally. It’s refreshing to hear a food writer say this aloud. Ozersky has essentially highlighted all the absurdity of a culture saturated in food media. Under the microscopic glare of a Twitter
While I was ranting about $8 chocolate bars yesterday, I got to thinking about No Frills, where we get a lot of our groceries. What Canadian doesn’t like to rave about our open-minded multiculturalism, and especially the eating part? It’s easier than trying to dissect international politics, or talk critically about the ways in which multiculturalism has failed us, or marvel at the many times
(Warning: The following rant has not been brought to you by sustainable, artisan chocolate or fair-trade coffee. In fact, it’s been sitting around on ye old to-do list for coming on three weeks now. I guess we can call it a well-aged rant.) In short, can we please, please stop trying to find meaning in every bite of local, organic, feel-good morsel we eat? It
Sometimes, a chocolate bar is just a chocolate bar Continue Reading