Stalinist salads and Napoleon cakes: “Russian Food Since 1800” by Catriona Kelly

It was with calls for bread that women took to the streets in 1917, the starting point for the Russian Revolution. In 1962, an increase in food prices led to a protest in Novocherkassk, which was suppressed and resulted in 24 deaths. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Western sanctions have affected Russian access to certain foods. In Russian Food Since 1800: Empire at Table, Catriona Kelly investigates these incidents and the role food has played in Russian society, emphasising its importance as a part of everyday life as well as to unique political and social contexts. 

Pickled cucumbers, kvass, smetana, black bread — all of this food and more is at the centre of this short book. By drawing on material from historical cookbooks and diaries, as well as poetry and various novels, Kelly attempts to place such food within its historical context. 

As she writes: “To understand food history, you need to grasp the symbolic meaning of food, the social practices that created it, the actual foods consumed and their emotional resonance.”

Providing an interesting discussion of the social and political context of Russian food, Kelly’s introduction to Russian Food Since 1800 is the focal point of the book. It highlights the impact of Russia’s national identity on food, as well as the deficits and shortages in the Soviet economy and Soviet nostalgia, providing an immersive introduction into the world of Russian food. 

The various chapters that follow all have a very similar trajectory: the type of food is outlined, whether that be food that grows in the forest or comes from animals which swims in the sea, followed by a historical overview of the Russian people’s relationship to said food. 

As one might expect from the title, the book covers the time period of 1800 until today, and ends with the post-Soviet context and how various Western sanctions have impacted food habits in Russia today. By going back and forth in time, however, the book can become somewhat repetitive in its structure, often ending each section with a return to sanctions on Russia and its impact on food. 

The book also discusses how various regimes, not least the Soviet, impacted food and diet. The Soviet state was in charge of quality control, promoted healthy ways of eating, and also owned agricultural land as a result of the nationalisation project. With the collectivisation and industrialisation of the Soviet Union, food production also saw large-scale changes. As an example, Kelly describes how when state planning decided fish would become a larger part of the Soviet diet, new cookbooks focusing on fish appeared to stimulate this aim. 

The imperial element of food culture in Russia is another feature of the book. Through the colonial expansion of territory, the Russian diet was introduced to new flavours and dishes. As Kelly points out, many historical Russian dishes are similar to those found in Nordic and Baltic countries or even Scotland, featuring dark bread, grain porridges, mushrooms, and pickled vegetables. 

Drawing a comparison to other empires, Kelly notes that “in Russia, as in Britain and the Netherlands, the north European culinary practices modulated, as the empire developed, into a culinary hybrid.” This was something that occurred both during the tsarist empire, as well as the Soviet period where new foods from all corners of the empire made its way onto Russian tables. 

This was a process which worked in both directions: “Just as Central Asians took to pork, vodka and tomatoes, Russians began making pies with Uzbek dried apricots and using spicy Georgian adjika and sour green-plum tkemali sauces as relishes.”

Yet the subtitle of the book “Empire at table” is a theme that could be more prominent throughout the book rather than just in the introduction.

It is not only food itself that is discussed in this book, but also the absence of it. For example, the book delves into the collectivisation of the 1930s, which resulted in large-scale famines in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, as well as the Leningrad siege, which led to the death of over half a million, many due to starvation. Deficits and shortages would also impact the amount of food available during the Soviet Union, and shape people’s eating habits. 

The book is part of Bloomsbury’s Russian Shorts series, where each book is tasked with providing a short overview of the topic at hand. While the book can be seen to have delivered on its premise, and provides an introduction into food culture in Russia, I was left wanting more, something I hope to attempt to remedy through approaching the further reading list at the end of the book — with a longer list available online — alongside other resources such as a selection of recipes and primary sources. Russian Food since 1800 can be compared to an appetiser, and simply the starting point before diving into further knowledge about the topic of food culture in the Russian empire. 

Book details: Kelly, Catriona, Russian Food since 1800: Empire at Table, 2024, Bloomsbury Academic. Buy it here.