Talks & Cooking Classes

Born in the USSR, Raised in Canada

Six Canadian writers with roots in the USSR share fiction and nonfiction about life in a multiplicity of cultures, languages and identities.

Watch the event recording above.

This event brings together six established authors who were born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to Canada as children. In their fiction and nonfiction they explore topics of multicultural identity, life under communism, Jewish culture, food, history, and making a home in a strange land. The reading is hosted by Punctured Lines, a feminist blog designed to highlight writing by those from the former Soviet Union now living in various diasporas and by those who live in the post-Soviet space.

Sunday, May 15, 2022
3pm EST | Online

Making room for the Soviet in Ashkenazi food

Why the nostalgia for sosiski (weiners)?

Why did Soviet-Jews stop keeping kosher?

Which Soviet-era salad scares children the most?

What happens when anti-Semitism meets Bolshevik food policies?

Call it Russian-Jewish food or Soviet-Jewish food, but the result is not the Russian food your bubbe may have fed you. Contact me if you're looking for a speaker on Soviet-Jewish food and history.

I also teach cooking classes on Soviet-era Russian Jewish food.

Want to know more? Read the article that started it all, Defining Soviet-Jewish Cuisine.

Please note - I only give talks in English.

Past Events

Events
In Conversation with Darra Goldstein

An interview with esteemed cookbook writer Darra Goldstein, about her latest book, Beyond the North Wind, Russian-Jewish food today, and of course, New Year's Eve menus.
Prosserman JCC
Sunday, December 6, 2020 | Online

Jewish Food Bracket - Best Jewish Food Debate

Panel debate on the best Jewish foods, alongside Mika Bareket and Corey Mintz
Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Miles Nadal JCC, Toronto
Saturday, June 8, 2019

Talks
At the Crossroads of Treyf and Rootless Cosmopolitanism — Defining Soviet-Jewish Food

Limmud FSU Toronto Conference
Deerhurst, Ontario
March 2020 | Event cancelled

At the Crossroads of Treyf and Rootless Cosmopolitanism — Defining Soviet-Jewish Food

Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Miles Nadal JCC, Toronto
Saturday, June 8, 2019

Can Soviet food be Jewish?

Hillel Ontario J. Lead Retreat
Wolfond Centre, UofT
Saturday, February 2, 2019

Defining Soviet-Jewish Cuisine

Ashkenaz Festival
Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
Monday, September 3, 2018

What Makes Russian-Jews Jewish?

Panel moderator
Deerhurst Resort, Ontario
October 2014

Cooking Classes
Russian Salads - Olivier and Mimosa

Two Russian salads to bring in the spring.
Adraba Jewish High School
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 | Online

Savoury Russian Zakuski Hamantaschen

Blending Russian and Jewish traditions for a Purim dish that could have been if Judaism had been permitted in the USSR.
Prosserman JCC
Monday, February 22, 2021 | Online

Jewish& - Building the Jewish Cookbook - Rassolnik Soup

Learn to make Rassolnik, a quintessential and much-loved Russian pickle soup
Miles Nadal JCC
Sunday, December 20, 2020 | Online

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