Book Log 2014 #16: Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya Von Bremzen

I went into this book taking the title in a more literal sense, that the book would be about Soviet food and whatever passed for social realism cuisine. And while that's in there, this book is really a memoir about the author's life in the USSR and eventual emigration to the US. Food plays a prominent role, weaved into stories about family and life under communism.

The most interesting parts to me, though, come once the author and her mother relocated to the US, as their joy at being out from under the Soviet thumb is often tempered by the realities of being in a place where you don't speak the language (or don't speak it as well as you'd like) or understand the customs. Watching the pair adjust and get used to the US (and even begin to miss the USSR) is pretty amazing. I don't know if I'd have the guts to do that, even with the daily indignities that were part of Soviet life.

I'll admit to having wanted a little more straight food talk (I'm always interested in goofy products and the like), but that's just me. This is a really well-written memoir that's got plenty of food talk (on top of the usual memoir topics) and is worth a read.