The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food

Darra Goldstein's The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food is a fascinating history of Russian food and foodways and a valuable addition to the growing field of food studies. The author of several cookbooks and the founding editor of Gastronomica, Goldstein has devoted her professional life to the study of Russian food. Her mastery of the sources—including medieval manuscripts, Russian literature, cookbooks, and discussions of food in the popular press—is unsurpassed and allows her to craft a vibrant account of food's role in Russian life and culture.The Kingdom of Rye consists of three thematic chapters and a conclusion: “The Land and its Flavors,” “Hardship and Hunger,” “Hospitality and Excess,” and “Coda: Post-Soviet Russia.” Each beautifully written chapter deftly provides fascinating insights into Russian food culture. Given the harshness of the climate and the short growing season, Russians fermented and processed as much food as possible to ensure that there would be enough to eat during the long winter and spring months. The foods that formed the basic Russian diet were sourdough rye bread, porridge, soups, pickled vegetables, and cultured dairy products, making sourness the predominate taste sensation of Russian food. Goldstein also highlights innovative kitchen technologies. Russians developed huge masonry ovens that allowed them to perform different food preparations at the same time: women could simultaneously bake bread and make porridge while mushrooms and herbs were drying above the stove. The samovar, used to brew tea, allowed Russians to quickly prepare the hot beverage for family and friends day or night, and it became a symbol of Russian hospitality in the nineteenth century. The introduction of tea was only one of the many culinary imports that has played a role in Russia's food culture. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the elites acquired a taste for French haute cuisine; they often competed to see whose chef could astound invited guests with exquisitely prepared multicourse meals. The result was a melding of haute cuisine with traditional Russian foods to create a Russian food culture that survives to the present day.While much Russian hospitality occurred in the home, there were numerous options for eating out, and Goldstein does a masterful job of outlining them in imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and post-Soviet Russia. Her discussion of the late Soviet period is particularly enlightening as she shows how the promise of socialist plenty never materialized for most Soviet urbanites. To purchase kitchen staples required standing in long lines that encouraged new forms of etiquette and sociability as Soviets tried to make the best of a difficult situation. For items such as meat, enterprising individuals developed elaborate networks of acquaintances who supplied the food that the shops could not. The end result was that urban residents spent much of their day searching for food. Meanwhile, members of the Soviet elite ate in exclusive, reservation-only restaurants where there was plenty of elaborately prepared food and drink.If there were moments of excess among the elites, food scarcity cast a long shadow over the tables of most Russians. Russia's severe winters, frequent droughts, and floods made food production a challenge. The inability of any Russian government to organize an efficient system of agricultural supply and demand compounded Russia's weather-related problems. This resulted in frequent and severe famines that affected Russia, and Goldstein does a good job of identifying the most important of these famines and why they played a critical role in Russian history. At the same time, she points to the strict fasting rules of the Russian Orthodox Church, which forbade believers from consuming meat and dairy products for over two hundred days a year. This constraint, combined with food scarcity, led to a certain fatalism among Russian peasants, according to Goldstein. And yet, this notion of fatalistic Russian peasants undercuts Goldstein's own argument that peasants actively participated in the creation of a vibrant and nutritious food culture that influenced the culinary choices of the elites. Moreover, the Orthodox Church, like other Christian churches, did not introduce a severe fasting regime to cope with food scarcity but rather as a form of spiritual discipline in which believers actively prepared their souls for heavenly salvation.A short review such as this can only highlight just some of the rich insights contained within the pages of The Kingdom of Rye. While it does not have any footnotes, just a short list of suggested readings, Goldstein's book should be of interest to specialists and nonspecialists alike. The book would make a welcome and important contribution to a class in food studies or Russian culture.