Holiday Traditions of the Soviet Diaspora

Описание: On Tuesday, January 6, 2025, at 20:30 MSK, please join us for a live conversation with food writer and culinary instructor Polina Chesnakova in celebration of her new cookbook, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora. Together with Darra Goldstein, founding editor of Gastronomica and editor in chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, they will explore culinary traditions of the Soviet diaspora during the holiday season.

The American Center in Moscow is delighted to host food writer and culinary instructor Polina Chesnakova in celebration of her new cookbook, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Together with Darra Goldstein, founding editor of Gastronomica and editor in chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, they will explore culinary traditions of the Soviet diaspora during the holiday season, why gathering and cooking together is an act of cultural preservation, and how the immigrant experience shapes memory and ritual.

Order her new cookbook CHESNOK: https://hardiegrant.lnk.to/chesnok

About the speaker: Polina Chesnakova is a cookbook author and culinary instructor whose work has been featured in Saveur, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Weekend, and more. Her latest book, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, explores life and cooking in the Soviet diaspora through family stories and recipes. She lives in Providence with her husband and two children.

About the moderator: Darra Goldstein is the Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of Russian, Emerita at Williams College and editor in chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies. She is also the author of eight award-winning cookbooks, including The Georgian Feast and Beyond the North Wind: Russia in Recipes and Lore. Darra serves in the advisory “Kitchen Cabinet” of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and in 2020 received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.