Eccentric Flower:200912/A Quote

This is dated 31 December even though it is being written on 1 January for two reasons; first, because I'm too tired and emotionally raw right now to do the routine that goes with setting up a new month here; and second, because it is old business and belongs with the old year.

"From the peasants' simple fare to the varied delights of a wealthy household, the Russian cuisine remained stable until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Then in the space of a few decades, it went through more changes than had occurred in centuries. The Revolution did not immediately abolish poverty nor, to the disappointment of many, did it set all the peasants and workers at the same kind of well-spread table that their former rulers had enjoyed. For a number of years, in fact, their condition was worse rather than better. The socialization and modernization of agriculture was a slow, painful process, but gradually swamps were drained, arid land irrigated, virgin land brought under cultivation and worn-out land improved by better farming practices. High-yielding varieties of grain and vegetables were introduced and scrawny livestock improved by scientific breeding programs. The farmer (officially, there are no more peasants in the Soviet Union) who lived on soup, kasha, and bread before 1917 eventually came to enjoy a more abundant and better balanced diet, with a chunk of meat in his borshch.

"While the amount, quality, and variety of food increased, it cannot be said that gastronomy flourished during the early years of the Soviet state. The Socialist ethic encouraged asceticism, and popular memory tended to identify the epicure with the exploiter. In any case, people who in less than forty years had lived through a revolution, two major wars, invasion, enemy occupation and severe famines did not need subtleties of preparation or presentation to make almost any food acceptable."

-- Helen Papashvily, in Foods of the World: Russian Cooking, Time-Life Books, 1971.