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14
Opinion&Analysis
TracesoftheSovietUnion,WojciechGórecki
MoscowCentre,AlexyMalashenko?TefirstthatcomestomindistheRussian
languagewhichisstillusedfromBrest(Belarus)toMagadan(aseaportinRus-
sia’sFarEast),fromVorkuta(Russiannorth)toTermez(inUzbekistan).Naturally,
thecommandlevelofthislanguagethesedaysismuch
Sovietcuisinehas
lowerthanitwas25yearsagoandthereareeven
integratedrecipesfrom
placeswhereitismucheasiertocommunicatein
EasternEurope,Russia,
EnglishthanRussian,butforthemajorityofstates
Ukraine,theNorth
thatformwhatwecallthepost-Sovietterritory,this
isthemostwidelyusedandbestunderstoodlanguage.
andSouthCaucasus
Tesecondexamplethatcomestomindiscuisine.
andCentralAsia.
Tisfeatureisbestcapturedintheintroductionto
thePolishtranslationofIrinaGlushchenko’sbook
FoodandDrinks:MikoyanandSovietCuisinewhereaPolishculinarycritic,Ma-
ciejNowak,writes:uWhileitisdebatablewhetheraSovietmanhasbeensuccess-
fullycreated,aSovietcuisinecertainlyhas.Atthelevelofculinarytraditionsthe
SovietcuisinehasintegratedrecipesfromEasternEurope,Russia,Ukraine,the
NorthandSouthCaucasusandCentralAsia.Attheideologicallevelitintroduced
guidelinesforhealthynutritionafewdecadesbeforetheybecometrendyinwest-
ernsocieties…Atthepracticallevel,ithascreatedmechanismswhichdestroyed
earlierpracticesofhome-cooking”
.Tatiswhy,inthethousandsofcanteensand
restaurantsindiferentlocationsfromBresttoLviv,uptotheborderswithIran,
AfghanistanandChina,youwillfindUkrainianborsch,pelmeni,Caucasianshish
kebabsandCentralAsianplov.NottomentionMoldavianorGeorgianwine.
Sovietafterlife
Tethirddeterminantthatneedstobementionedislesstangiblebutmorede-
batable.Tisisthepost-Sovietmentalityandasenseofbelongingtothepost-So-
viet(orevenSoviet)world.Iobservedtracesofthisphenomenononmanyocca-
sions.TelasttimewasatabazarinSamarkandwhereIspokewithanoldman
whowasprobablycloseto100yearsold.Itturnedoutthathewasaveteranofthe
SecondWorldWarandfoughtincombatnearWarsaw.WhenhefoundoutthatI
amfromPoland,hecriedout:uWeareneighbours!”Today’sUzbekistandoesnot
shareanyborderswithPoland,buttheSovietUniondid.Anditisthisnon-ex-
istingborderthatmyinterlocutorprobablyhadinmind.Itsuggeststhathehad
tofeel,atleasttoacertainextent,thathewasstillacitizenoftheSovietUnion.
Afriendofminehadadiferent,yetsomewhatsimilar,adventure.Hestoppedfor
lunchatasmallroadsiderestaurantsomewhereenroutefromAlmatytoBishkek.
