Cuisine

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A Soup for Seminarians
January 01, 2012

A Soup for Seminarians

A consideration of the hearty Russian mushroom soup, Pokhlyobka, and Vasily Perov's evocative painting, "Receiving the Wanderer."

Dazzling the Palate
November 01, 2011

Dazzling the Palate

Hidden in a small alleyway off Moscow's historic Pokrovka Street, tiny Chaynaya Vysota tea room offers 250 varieties of tea... and gourmet ice cream.
Soviet Fast Food
September 01, 2011

Soviet Fast Food

A look back at the many variants of Soviet Fast Food.

A Russo-German Libation
July 01, 2011

A Russo-German Libation

The art of Ivan Bilibin spurs a consideration of the history of beer brewing in Russia.

To Market, To Market!
July 01, 2011

To Market, To Market!

Moscow’s bustling food markets are colorful, clamorous, exciting places. And much of what goes on there lies hidden behind the superficial din. This is a story of pesto, plov and piglets.

The All-Important Tavern
May 01, 2011

The All-Important Tavern

Boris Kustodiev’s painting Moscow Tavern (1916) captures a world that was soon to vanish. Here, old-fashioned cabbies, wearing the telltale long beards and caftans of Old Believers, enjoy a break from their work as they relax over tea. Recipe: Herring in Dill Sauce

Poetry to Sweeten the Sale
March 01, 2011

Poetry to Sweeten the Sale

A look at Vladimir Mayakovsky as painter and poet, and a recipe for Tyanuchki - a candy-like fudge.

Angels in the Kitchen
January 01, 2011

Angels in the Kitchen

Our series in the Cuisine section about the interaction of the culinary and visual arts continues with columnist Darra Goldstein's consideration of Pavel Filonov's "Angels by the Stove." And the recipe? Black bread!

Vodka with a Kiss
November 01, 2010

Vodka with a Kiss

Konstantin Makovsky's Boyarina Bearing a Tray serves as an introduction to an ancient Russian custom of hospitality.

The Tractor Drivers' Supper
July 01, 2010

The Tractor Drivers' Supper

Arkady Plastov's painting "The Tractor Drivers' Supper" exemplifies the Socialist Realist style, and is full of important cultural references, which lead inevitably to this issue's recipe, for Cabbage with Noodles and Poppy Seeds.

 

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EVENTS FOR RUSSOPHILES

A Few of Our Books

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

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