CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 1/6/2016

CCCP COOK BOOK: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine

In their surprise-hit illustrated history/recipe book, the CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine, noted food scholars Olga and Pavel Syutkin write, "The benefits and flaws of Soviet cuisine were closely interconnected. Centralized government exercised total control over every aspect of Soviet life, and food was no exception. A policy of using standardized recipes was enforced in every public catering establishment. At the time the Soviet Union was the largest country in the world, a multinational empire that spanning the Arctic Circle to the subtropics – it was clear that such an inflexible approach was doomed to failure. Moreover, deficiencies in the trade and distribution system lead to losses and plummeting quality of food. The entire public catering system was based on the principles of underinvestment and fraud. Because of cultural isolation the USSR was oblivious of culinary advances made in the rest of the world – information about new technologies and products, as well as broader developments in gastronomy – simply failed to penetrate its borders." Featured image is shuba (dressed herring), aka "Herring in a Fur Coat."