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
A quintessential and much-loved Russian soup, rassolnik is a pickle soup, with barley, beef and potatoes – and lots of pickles and pickle-juice. It’s long been a staple of Russian households and survived through the Soviet era, to be brought over with Soviet-Jewish immigrants going back to the 1970s. Traditionally made with beef and pork kidneys, I make mine with beef brisket bones and, occasionally,
The last book on my Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10 list is Yenta Mash’s On the Landing, one of the best Yiddish writers you’ve never heard of, whose short stories were translated into English by Ellen Cassedy.
Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10: On the Landing by Yenta Mash Continue Reading
My next selection for the Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10 is Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust, by historian David Shneer, which uncovers the role of Jewish photographers in the Soviet photography industry.
Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10: Through Soviet Jewish Eyes Continue Reading
Little Failure: A Memoir, by Gary Shteyngart, is my next book on the Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10 list. It’s not the first or only Russian-Jewish memoir. No, its significance lies in its ability to capture the complexities of becoming an American (and does so in a way that resonates for Canadian readers, too), and leaving behind the Soviet world.
Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10: Little Failure Continue Reading
My seventh book for the Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10 is an award-winning poetry book, small things left behind. Full disclosure — the author is my mother, Ella Zeltserman. This is my most deeply personal, and yes, very biased, selection for the list.
Soviet-Jewish Decade Top 10: small things left behind 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