The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe - (At Table) by Lesley Chamberlain (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe, first published in 1989 and a companion volume to Lesley Chamberlain's acclaimed The Food and Cooking of Russia, surveys the rich and diverse food cultures that were known to few people in the West during the half century when Europe was divided. It contains more than two hundred recipes interwoven with historical background and notes from the author's extensive experiences traveling through Central and Eastern Europe. When originally published this practical cookbook revealed how the world's most delicious sausages, goulash and sauerkraut, fruit dumplings, cheesecake, and many other dishes tasted in their homelands. Now, in a quite different political world, this book is a vital resource for remembering life before the Iron Curtain was lifted. This Bison Books edition contains period illustrations and a new introduction by the author that describes how dramatically this region and its food have changed since the end of Central and Eastern Europe's isolation in 1989.

Review Quotes

"The value of home-cooked food is probably one I owe almost entirely to Eastern Europe. I found it a joy to come across a world in which, although dented by shortages in an ill-managed economy, the culture of food was still intact. Above all, the food industry was innocent compared with its Western counterpart, and the link between town and country persisted more or less unbroken from before the war. Markets were still more frequent than supermarkets, and there was no need to go to 'health' shops to buy whole grains, jam that was actually made of fruit, and superb dairy products at honest prices."

About the Author

Lesley Chamberlain studied Russian and German languages and literature before working as a journalist for Reuters in Moscow. She has traveled extensively in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia and now works as a writer and a freelance scholar. In addition to her cookery books, her published works include Nietzsche in Turin: An Intimate Biography and In the Communist Mirror.