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bibliotechnocrat
Dec 31, 2014bibliotechnocrat rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This is only sort of a memoir. And it's only sort of about food. Bremzen is a food critic living in New York, but she grew up in Brezhnev's Russia and as an adult, decides to try make sense of her heritage. She and her mother cook their way through the Russian decades of the 20th century starting with a Tsarist feast (wow) so that food becomes a lens through which the culture - and the economic/social/political lurches of the Soviet system - are explored. The author's family history is investigated at the same time giving a personal context to the frequently violent upheavals that took place. The last part of the book covers her return to Russia to film a television show after the collapse of Communism. For me, the results are a bit uneven, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.