Cuisine without Food: Addendum

Book of Tasty and Healthy Food by Anastas Mikoyan, translation pub. 2012

Anya Von Bremzen, in her memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking (see my post from yesterday) described the Soviet cookbook for good communist homemakers, first published in 1939. Its attributed author, Anastas Mikoyan, was commissar of food of the USSR. Of course the book's directives about how much to eat, what foods were healthy, and how to serve the food (and beverages like vodka, wine, juice which belonged at every meal) were examples of the myth making and wishful thinking of Soviet officials. Von Bremzen also explains  how new editions constantly had to be produced in order to remove references to disgraced and disappeared leaders like Stalin.

I was amused to find that this book was translated into English recently -- see Book of Tasty and Healthy Food.

Soviet peas from Book of Tasty and Healthy Food