RUSS 222 - Russian Foodways

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” Brillat-Savarin pronounced in 1826. This course examines the vital role of food and drink in Russia and its borderlands (Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Central Asia) from a historical, cultural, environmental, and culinary perspective. Topics include: the dual peasant and aristocratic (French) origins of Russian cuisine; food, drinking and national identity; food and memory; vegetarianism; foraging and hunting; feasts and famines; Russia’s kitchen- and dacha- gardening traditions; current trends (fast food, local food, farm-to- table). Sources include cookbooks, literary works, essays, films. Entails substantial kitchen time. No cooking experience required
This course is appropriate for new students.