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The Communist Cookbook That Defined Prague’s Cuisine

lainga 8y ago
There is an episode of Chef's Table on Netflix dealing with the same effect on Russia's cuisine, and how this chef was trying to resurrect all sorts of traditional Russian dishes which had in effect been lost for 80 years because they were seen as too bourgeoisie. It incidentally also went into how the Western sanctions against Russia had only strengthened his project, because it led to an ersatz locavore movement and forced him to use Russian-available ingredients. For example, he tries to use only honey instead of sugar, because the latter wasn't really present historically in Russia.
- contingencies 8y ago
  Interesting. Honey is super expensive though. FYI bourgeois is the adjective (or single member of the social caste), bourgeoisie is the pronoun for the social caste.
  - jpatokal 8y ago
    Historically in Europe it was sugar that was super expensive, and honey was the only widely available sweetener.
    - contingencies 8y ago
      Of course. So how and when did they begin to make jams and marmalades? It seems... post new world.
      - lainga 8y ago
        Well, marmalade is descended from the Greek melmelion, meaning "honey fruit".
        contingencies 8y ago
        Mmm. Honey marmalade with an ancient Greek connection. Subtle overtones of anti-capitalism, retro cool and holistic herbal healing. Think you just spotted a new hipster breakfast trend. Sourdough it, mix with your Euromuesli, gourmet burger/wrap or pizza that stuff and cash in. Minimalist line drawings of naked Greek athletes: boom. Fad.
- anonymfus 8y ago
  > Western sanctions against Russia This is incorrect. These food bans are Russian sanctions against western countries "in response" to Western sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
carlob 8y ago
I think there is something misleading about comparing high cuisine with middling cuisine. Like when people compare French and British cuisine: the former developed as the cuisine of kings in the 16-17th century and then kind of trickled down to expensive restaurants, while the latter developed during the industrial revolution and was something that every salaried man could afford to eat at home. A similar story happened with communist cuisine: as a matter of fact most people were not eating that well before WWII, and for them communist cuisine was definitely an improvement. The majority of the population could not afford restaurants anyway. If you're interested in this kind of topics there is "Cuisine and Empire", by Rachel Laudan (that's where I took most of the ideas).
- macspoofing 8y ago
  >A similar story happened with communist cuisine Let's be clear about this though. The communist government mandated the specific recipes. It wasn't something that developed organically.
  - david927 8y ago
    No, the recipes were organic, they just mandated that it would be a high level of ingredients and portions for school and work cafeterias.
  - vetinari 8y ago
    While we are clearing things up: the purpose of specific recipes was standardization and quality control. The purpose of ČSN was something like ISO today.
    - david927 8y ago
      The author was quite confused with a lot of the facts. (She had the Germans invade a year late. Dr. Thorne is the Academic Director at NYU Prague.) The topic is interesting; it deserves an author with at least a cursory understanding of the subject matter.
    - macspoofing 8y ago
nickray 8y ago
Is there any English translation of the original? Would be curious to see the actual recipes!
- dejv 8y ago
  They were not really good anyway. They took classic local recipe and standardize it to lowest denominator and made them cheap and failproof. There is new wave of interest in Czech traditional cuisine + there was always homemade versions, but I dont think there is any cookbook translated to English. If you are curious search for Austrian, German or Hungarian cookbooks, all of those share the same roots and overlaps.
l5870uoo9y 8y ago
One thing they haven't forgotten is how to brew beer. If you visit to Prague I would recommend visiting one of the old state-run restaurants, Lokál Dlouhááá: http://lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/ http://lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/
- awiesenhofer 8y ago
  Second that recommendation! While not state-run anymore all the "Lokáls" and Kantina serve amazing food with lots of ambiente from the old cold war times
  - yread 8y ago
    > ambiente incidentally (or not?) this is the name of the company that runs them
- maximente 8y ago
  děkuji brother, in Prague this weekend and went after i saw this
- jxub 8y ago
  Just went here to say that. Amongo the ones I visited I can also endorse V Cípu, with great "specials" section. Be careful, as beer is cheap and great almost everywhere but it can effectively hamper your sightseeing ;)
robdachshund 8y ago
Oh I didn't realize this was reddit now. What does this have to do with coding or technology?
titanix2 8y ago
One thing I discovered and really liked during my stay in CR is soup. Contrary to potages or soups of my country they often contain meat, and ingredients with various textures. I liked it so much I bought a book on the topic: Polevky by Alena Doležalová. It’s filled with beautiful pictures and most recipes features variants.
david927 8y ago
The entire article suffers from a common misconception that former communist countries "suffered horribly from lack of innovation," when it was a negative against many other positives of the time. Food was cheaper and higher quality than now. For example, Czechs still love this cookbook because it set a high bar for quality of ingredients for schools and work cafeterias. They don't see it as confining as much as defining.

There is an episode of Chef's Table on Netflix dealing with the same effect on Russia's cuisine, and how this chef was trying to resurrect all sorts of traditional Russian dishes which had in effect been lost for 80 years because they were seen as too bourgeoisie. It incidentally also went into how the Western sanctions against Russia had only strengthened his project, because it led to an ersatz locavore movement and forced him to use Russian-available ingredients. For example, he tries to use only honey instead of sugar, because the latter wasn't really present historically in Russia.

contingencies 8y ago
Interesting. Honey is super expensive though. FYI bourgeois is the adjective (or single member of the social caste), bourgeoisie is the pronoun for the social caste.
- jpatokal 8y ago
  Historically in Europe it was sugar that was super expensive, and honey was the only widely available sweetener.
  - contingencies 8y ago
    Of course. So how and when did they begin to make jams and marmalades? It seems... post new world.
    - lainga 8y ago
      Well, marmalade is descended from the Greek melmelion, meaning "honey fruit".
      - contingencies 8y ago
        Mmm. Honey marmalade with an ancient Greek connection. Subtle overtones of anti-capitalism, retro cool and holistic herbal healing. Think you just spotted a new hipster breakfast trend. Sourdough it, mix with your Euromuesli, gourmet burger/wrap or pizza that stuff and cash in. Minimalist line drawings of naked Greek athletes: boom. Fad.
anonymfus 8y ago
> Western sanctions against Russia This is incorrect. These food bans are Russian sanctions against western countries "in response" to Western sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

carlob 8y ago

I think there is something misleading about comparing high cuisine with middling cuisine. Like when people compare French and British cuisine: the former developed as the cuisine of kings in the 16-17th century and then kind of trickled down to expensive restaurants, while the latter developed during the industrial revolution and was something that every salaried man could afford to eat at home. A similar story happened with communist cuisine: as a matter of fact most people were not eating that well before WWII, and for them communist cuisine was definitely an improvement. The majority of the population could not afford restaurants anyway. If you're interested in this kind of topics there is "Cuisine and Empire", by Rachel Laudan (that's where I took most of the ideas).

macspoofing 8y ago
>A similar story happened with communist cuisine Let's be clear about this though. The communist government mandated the specific recipes. It wasn't something that developed organically.
- david927 8y ago
  No, the recipes were organic, they just mandated that it would be a high level of ingredients and portions for school and work cafeterias.
- vetinari 8y ago
  While we are clearing things up: the purpose of specific recipes was standardization and quality control. The purpose of ČSN was something like ISO today.
  - david927 8y ago
    The author was quite confused with a lot of the facts. (She had the Germans invade a year late. Dr. Thorne is the Academic Director at NYU Prague.) The topic is interesting; it deserves an author with at least a cursory understanding of the subject matter.
  - macspoofing 8y ago

nickray 8y ago

Is there any English translation of the original? Would be curious to see the actual recipes!

dejv 8y ago
They were not really good anyway. They took classic local recipe and standardize it to lowest denominator and made them cheap and failproof. There is new wave of interest in Czech traditional cuisine + there was always homemade versions, but I dont think there is any cookbook translated to English. If you are curious search for Austrian, German or Hungarian cookbooks, all of those share the same roots and overlaps.

l5870uoo9y 8y ago

One thing they haven't forgotten is how to brew beer. If you visit to Prague I would recommend visiting one of the old state-run restaurants, Lokál Dlouhááá: http://lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/ http://lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/

awiesenhofer 8y ago
Second that recommendation! While not state-run anymore all the "Lokáls" and Kantina serve amazing food with lots of ambiente from the old cold war times
- yread 8y ago
  > ambiente incidentally (or not?) this is the name of the company that runs them
maximente 8y ago
děkuji brother, in Prague this weekend and went after i saw this
jxub 8y ago
Just went here to say that. Amongo the ones I visited I can also endorse V Cípu, with great "specials" section. Be careful, as beer is cheap and great almost everywhere but it can effectively hamper your sightseeing ;)

robdachshund 8y ago

Oh I didn't realize this was reddit now. What does this have to do with coding or technology?

titanix2 8y ago

One thing I discovered and really liked during my stay in CR is soup. Contrary to potages or soups of my country they often contain meat, and ingredients with various textures. I liked it so much I bought a book on the topic: Polevky by Alena Doležalová. It’s filled with beautiful pictures and most recipes features variants.

david927 8y ago

The entire article suffers from a common misconception that former communist countries "suffered horribly from lack of innovation," when it was a negative against many other positives of the time. Food was cheaper and higher quality than now. For example, Czechs still love this cookbook because it set a high bar for quality of ingredients for schools and work cafeterias. They don't see it as confining as much as defining.