The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe, first published in 1989 and a companion volume to Lesley Chamberlain’s acclaimed The Food and Cooking of Russia, surveys the rich and diverse food cultures that were known to few people in the West during the half century when Europe was divided. It contains more than two hundred recipes interwoven with historical background and notes from the author’s extensive experiences traveling through Central and Eastern Europe. When originally published this practical cookbook revealed how the world’s most delicious sausages, goulash and sauerkraut, fruit dumplings, cheesecake, and many other dishes tasted in their homelands. Now, in a quite different political world, this book is a vital resource for remembering life before the Iron Curtain was lifted.

This Bison Books edition contains period illustrations and a new introduction by the author that describes how dramatically this region and its food have changed since the end of Central and Eastern Europe’s isolation in 1989.

Lesley Chamberlain studied Russian and German languages and literature before working as a journalist for Reuters in Moscow. She has traveled extensively in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia and now works as a writer and a freelance scholar. In addition to her cookery books, her published works include Nietzsche in Turin: An Intimate Biography and In the Communist Mirror.