Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook

Please to the Table delivers recipes and cultural context from across the former Soviet Union, spanning 15 republics and countless ethnic groups. This James Beard Award winner contains over 400 recipes gathered during extensive travel throughout the region in the late 1980s. The recipes range from Russian classics like beef stroganoff to lesser-known dishes from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Baltic states. Each section begins with historical background and personal anecdotes about the featured dishes and their origins. Authors von Bremzen and Welchman document cooking techniques, ingredients, and traditions that survived decades of food shortages and standardization under Soviet rule. The book includes detailed notes on adapting recipes for Western kitchens and sourcing traditional ingredients. The collection stands as both a culinary archive and a portrait of the diverse food cultures that persisted throughout the USSR's history. Through its recipes and stories, the book captures a pivotal moment of transition in the region's culinary heritage.

Readers consistently highlight the detailed cultural context and personal stories behind each recipe. Many note the book helps preserve Soviet-era cooking traditions across multiple regions, not just Russia. Likes: - Clear instructions and ingredient substitutions for Western cooks - Historical background for each dish - Mix of everyday and special occasion recipes - Accurate flavors praised by Russian/Eastern European readers Dislikes: - Some recipes need measurement corrections - A few hard-to-find ingredients - No photos - Print is small and dense Several readers mention successfully cooking 20+ recipes from the book. Multiple reviewers specifically recommend the Georgian chicken tabaka, borscht variations, and mushroom dishes. Ratings: Goodreads: 4.4/5 (500+ ratings) Amazon: 4.7/5 (300+ ratings) One representative review states: "This isn't just a cookbook - it's a cultural archive of how people really cooked and ate across the former USSR."

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🔹 Anya von Bremzen emigrated from Moscow to Philadelphia in 1974 and learned English by working as a tour guide in Atlantic City, making her journey to becoming an award-winning food writer particularly remarkable. 🔹 The book covers cuisines from all 15 former Soviet republics, featuring over 400 recipes that span from the Baltic States to Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. 🔹 Many recipes in the book were gathered directly from babushkas (grandmothers) and home cooks across the former Soviet Union, preserving traditional cooking methods that might otherwise have been lost. 🔹 This cookbook won the James Beard Award for Food of the Americas in 1991, establishing it as one of the most authoritative English-language resources on Soviet cuisine. 🔹 The title "Please to the Table" is a play on a common phrase used by Russian hosts when inviting guests to eat, directly translated from the Russian "Просим к столу" (Prosim k stolu).