COOKBOOKS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA DURING THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
COOKBOOKS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA DURING THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES

Summary/Abstract: Despite the scarce relevance in the academic world compared to other disciplines, cookbooks and food-related stories represent a valid source to understand more in detail socio-economic and political changes in a country. In this paper I will briefly introduce the increase in importance of cookbooks and the national cuisine in Russia, their contribution and the key role they played during the imperial time in the formation of national identity. The method of my research includes an analysis of the most influential culinary works printed in Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries and their contextualization in a time full of social and political changes. As result, I will explain how politics and social events reflect over the kitchen and cookbooks and how the latter have been used by their authors as medium to spread patriotism and nationalistic ideologies.

• Details
• Contents