Presented by Darra Goldstein, PhD
Professor and award-winning author

No samples available at this virtual presentation, though feel free to try these recipes for Sour Cream Honey Cake and  Syrniki (Russian Cheese Pancakes) (Courtesy of 10 Speed Press &  Stefan Wettainen, Photographer)

We welcome you to join us as Russian scholar and award-winning culinary authority Dr. Darra Goldstein shares highlights from her latest book Beyond the North Wind: Exploring Russia through Food. Darra will take us on a journey above the Arctic Circle, to Russia’s northernmost reaches, where the extremes of climate have inspired an inventive, resilient, and earthy cuisine. Darra points out that since Peter the Great opened his famous “window” on Europe, Russia has engaged in a tug-of-war with the West, one that is frequently played out at the table. The current political sanctions have jumpstarted an extraordinary revival of artisanal production, in which Russians are rediscovering their age-old traditions after the lean Soviet years. This exploration of culinary culture in some of the country’s most remote regions also offers surprising insight into Russian national identity.

Darra will transport us to Russia’s northernmost reaches, where the extremes of climate have inspired an inventive, resilient, and earthy cuisine. Beyond the North Wind re-conceptualizes Russian food practices by revealing the be be benefits of austerity rather than its limitations—how a harsh climate, poor soil, and limited availability of foods can foster an astonishingly complex cuisine characterized by exhilarating flavors and innovative techniques.

Biography: Darra Goldstein. PhD, is the Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of Russian, Emerita at Williams College and Founding Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. She is the author of six award-winning cookbooks, including The Georgian Feast (the 1994 IACP Julia Child Cookbook of the Year) and the recently published Beyond the North Wind: Russia in Recipes and Lore, which topped thelist of Best Summer 2020 Cookbooks in the New York Times Book Review. She serves as Series Editor for California Studies in Food and Culture (University of California Press) and has consulted for the Council of Europe on using food to promote tolerance and diversity. Darra sits on the board of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and is a member of the advisory “Kitchen Cabinet” of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020
7 p.m.
Via ZOOM

Please e-mail Culinary.Historians@gmail.com for the zoom link.