CCCP: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine / Paint by Sticker

Issue No. 132

CCCP COOK BOOK – RECIPES FROM THE DAYS OF SOVIET FOOD PLANNERS

CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine
by Olga Syutkin and Pavel Syutkin
Fuel Publishing
2015, 192 pages, 4.9 x 8 x 0.9 inches

Buy on Amazon

Fuel Publishing, based in London, has carved a niche in the book world by creating books that document the small dark corners of Soviet history. You may be familiar with the series of books, Russian Criminal Tattoos, that revealed the language of body ink and the hierarchies of gulags. CCCP Cook Book uses the same obsessive attention to detail to great effect. When your country is wholly dependent on what the obshchina (collective farm) produces, what you eat is a political act. CCCP Cook Book delves deep into the history of dishes beloved by generations of Russians evolved from both the ideal of equal for all and the realities of planned food production in a country of nearly 170 million.

Visually, CCCP Cook Book adheres to Fuel’s high-minded design aesthetic. The full-page photos that illustrate the recipes are faithfully reproduced in the faded colors and garish contrasts that plagued cookbooks (regardless of origin) throughout the mid-century period.

Knowing that “Soviet” in Russian means “assembly” helps understand that Soviet cuisine isn’t necessarily Russian food. Central planners developed recipes based on projected harvests and preserved foods. Fresh herring wasn’t available in Taskent, but tinned (preserved) fish could be distributed throughout the country. Workers were fed meals at their workplaces that helped standardize recipes, as commissary cooks were required to follow the famed manual, “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food.”

That guide purposefully adapted regional dishes into new, improved Soviet recipes. Vorschmack has its roots in Jewish cuisine, but is easily recognized today as our own deviled eggs. Soviet planners declared every Thursday to be Fish Day as a way to address meat shortages. In response, agricultural scientists, inspired by the 16th-century Rus dish of minced fish shaped with elaborate molds, created a modern meal for the masses: fish sticks!

Soviet food scientists were doing the same work as capitalist American food engineers of the time. For every color-saturated booklet published by Kraft, the Soviet food councils published their own versions. Americans are haunted by the endless variations of the mayonnaise based “toss it all in a bowl “ style salad recipes. The Soviets also had their versions of the “toss it in bowl” recipes. One of my favorites in the CCCP Cook Book, for both the “blech” factor and its advertising campaign, is Shuba, better known by its nickname, Herring under a Fur Coat. The key ingredients are, of course, mayo and herring.

As a practical cookbook, I have neither the will nor stomach to actually prepare any of these dishes, yet CCCP Cook Book is an amazing work of culinary history. The book as an object is a marvel. The heavy quality paper, the purposefully reproduced photos, the exposed stitching binding, all appeal to a collector’s artisanal instincts. It’s my new “You Must Buy This Book” recommendation for my foodie friends. – Christina Ward

PUT AWAY THE WATERCOLORS AND PAINT BY STICKER

Paint by Sticker: A Magical New Art Form
by Workman Publishing
Workman Publishing
2016, 56 pages, 8.8 x 11.4 x 0.4 inches

Buy on Amazon

Are you done with adult coloring books but not yet ready for adult fingerpainting? Have you considered… an adult stickerbook? I don’t understand how Paint by Sticker got made — it’s such an odd idea — but it turns out that it’s unexpectedly diverting to put these pictures together. The book has 12 unpainted “paintings” on thick perforated paper, each with two dedicated sheets of stickers. The paintings are outlines of some standard subjects: a fruit bowl still-life, a cottage in the woods. Through some creative talent I can’t wrap my head around, the images have been broken down into outlined facets by color, each numbered and waiting for you to apply the corresponding sticker.

I tried Paint by Sticker out on a few guinea pigs. Test subject #1 is a nine-year-old visual artist, and she wandered away before doing very much of her project. Test subject #2 is an adult, enjoys crafts but is not particularly artistic, and got super-duper into this with a glass of wine, a pocket knife for the stickers that wouldn’t come loose, and tweezers for precise placement. The subject had a meditative blissful time putting the stickers on the water towers and matching up the shapes with the numbers, and ooooh it was so satisfying, maybe not as an expression of emotion, but as a soothing and enjoyable treasure hunt with a weird and cool final project. Test subject #3 is a teenager, was also absorbed by the task, and assembled the fox while eating dinner. Test subjects #2 and #3 have decided to save the rest of the book for an airplane flight they have coming up. – Sara Lorimer

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

Systems Thinking

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 204

Guide to industrial landscape

Infrastructure

Combining photos and clear, occasionally poetic descriptions, this thorough almanac deconstructs the general architecture and much of the minutiae found throughout the modernized world. From power and water plants to railroads, highways, airports, bridges, dams, docks, municipal dumps, and industries like ag and mining, the book illuminates the subtle and not-so-subtle: Manhole covers are round, making them easy to roll and impossible to fall in; huge rotary kilns force water out of mineral products; AEI scanners monitor railroad cars; the rooflines of mill buildings cascade since these operations use gravity to move materials from one section down to the next.

The industrial ecology of a utility pole (excerpted below) and drill down on the power grid is what first hooked me. Choke coils, lightning arresters, bushings? I couldn’t have picked them out of a police line-up if my life depended on it. Not anymore! — Steven Leckart

• The Industrial Ecology of a Utility PoleFrom top to bottom, here are some of the species you might observe in the utility-pole ecosystem:
  – Primary distribution lines for electric power. These are the topmost wires. They are usually hung on a crossarm, and they come in groups of three, mounted on big insulators.
  – Switches, fuses, and surge arresters. These connect to the primary distribution lines.
  – Transformers. They are mounted below the primary distribution lines but above the secondary ones, with connections to both.
  – Secondary distribution lines. Just below the transformer level, they are rubber-sheathed conductors carried on spool-type insulators or twisted around a steel messenger cable.
  – Street-lighting fixtures. They draw their power from the secondary circuits.
  – Traffic signals. These too are powered by the secondaries. The signal lights are often hung from a steel cable stretched between utility poles.
  Everything from the top of the pole down to this level is the domain of the power company. Below is the realm of the communications lines, which operate on lower voltages and therefore don’t need to be kept quite as far out of reach…
  – Cable television feeders. These may be finger-thick coaxial cables, in either a black plastic sheath or a bare metal jacket. In newer systems the trunk lines that carry signals over longer distances are fiber-optic cables.
  – Telephone cables. Often the thickest of all the wires strung on a pole, they are actually bundles of dozens or hundreds of pairs of fine copper wires. Fiber-optic cables also show up at this level.
  Still lower — indeed, reaching the ground — are some wires that ought to have no voltage at all on them.
  – Guy wires. Their function is strictly mechanical; they help to hold the pole up. There may be an insulator inserted into the guy wire for safety, iin case a power conductor should tough the upper part.
  – Grounding lead. A pole with a transformer generally has a copper grounding wire that runs down the side of the pole and into the ground.
  Finally, at eye level, comes the bottommost ecological stratum of the urban or suburban utility pole:
  – The yard-sale zone, where the wood bristles with a thousand rusty staples.

Maps that change with time

Centennia Software

As a kid I dreamed of maps that would move; I got what I wanted in Centennia. This colorful political map of Europe and the Mid-East redraws itself at yearly intervals from the year 1000 to present. It’s a living map, an atlas with the dimension of time. I can zoom around history, pause at particular dates, or simply watch how nations melt away, or disintegrate into tiny fragements, or unite! Year by year the outlines of tribes and nations spread, retreat, and reform almost as if they were tides or infections. The resolution of detail (almost at the “county” level) is astounding; the breadth of time (ten centuries) thrilling. It rewards hours and hours of study. I hope it inspires others to tackle the rest of the world. It works on both the Mac and Windows. — KK

Constitution primer

The United States Constitution

The US Constitution is one of our most remarkable inventions of all time. A lot of people in other countries think so too. It is a robust self-correcting legal OS. But it was written in an arcane code long ago. To make any sense from it you need some help.

This lively graphic novel adaptation of the Constitution is by far the best aid I’ve found to deciphering its code. It is the comic book version, but rather than dumbing it down, it smartens it up. The graphic novel goes through the Constitution article by article, and explains what each bit means, why it is there, and how it came to be. Like the Bible, the Constitution doesn’t say what you thought it did. I was surprised what was not there as well as what was. I learned tons from this annotation, despite studying it in high school. It renewed my respect for it, and in a way, also makes clear its limitation. I feel I can be a slightly better citizen. Best of all, this book does all that with pictures, which makes it a page-turner.

Recently my brother-in-law, who is an immigrant, had a lot of questions about the Constitution. I handed him this book and he came back very informed. I gave it to my son who would normally have nothing to do with such boring material. But it’s a comic! You’ve always wanted to read it, and should. Here’s the perfect excuse and ideal method.

If you want the unadorned, raw version, get a pocket version. This sturdy shirt-pocket-sized one contains both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I have a few friends who pack this pocket version in their travel bags. Good conversation starter. — KK

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

Beeswax / Chompy ice on demand / Price history alert

Recomendo - issue #528

Two-minute spelling bee

Beeswax is a daily spelling bee that only takes two minutes. You hear each word spoken aloud, spell it, and one wrong letter ends your run. The words start easy and get progressively harder. Everyone gets the same five words each day, and you can share your result. I don’t play games on my phone, but I’ve been playing this one on my desktop, and it’s extra fun because I’m competing daily with a friend who is a much better speller than me. If you’re competitive too, join my 10-day challenge. — CD

Chompy ice on demand

We have our neighbors over for dinner a lot, and whenever they ask what to bring, I give the same answer: ice. Our fridge has no ice maker, so we’re always short. That problem has been solved with the Pearl L1 Max nugget ice maker. About the size of a large toaster, it cranks out tiny cubes of what my sister calls “chompy ice.” They are fun to chew (even though I know it’s probably not good for my teeth). It’s fast, too: pour in water, press the button, and nuggets start dropping into the basket within minutes. No more begging guests to bring their own ice. — MF

Price history alert

Amazon has introduced a very useful feature. Right next to the price on an item is a blue “Price history” button. Clicking on that gives you a chart of the item’s price over time. Most inexpensive items don’t change, but more expensive items (like a power tool) can show drastic variations in price. If an item has had a lower price in the past you might want to wait to see if it drops again. So Amazon gives you the option to set up a price alert to get notified when it drops to your target price. If you are sure you want it at that price and are willing to wait, you can also set it to automatically purchase it at that price so you don’t miss it. I used to use CamelCamelCamel to do all this with Amazon, but this native function is much slicker and easier. In my experience, if you are willing to wait, an item will usually return to its lowest price sooner or later, and that can be a good bargain. — KK

Concepts by women philosophers

The Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts by Women Philosophers is a free, peer-reviewed archive of philosophical concepts originated or advanced by women, from antiquity to the 21st century. You can browse the archive’s 100–300-word entries by concept, keyword, or philosopher. Reading the entries on Love, I fell down a rabbit hole into Karoline von Günderrode, a German Romantic who saw love not as romance or private emotion but as an elemental force. In her metaphysics, we’re made of imperishable elements that join and separate into ever-changing forms, all reaching for a perfect identity between form and essence—which, to me, is sublimely romantic. — CD

Phone entertainment

Ok, this is a 2-minute TikTok video, but it is worth two minutes. It’s a rollercoaster for phones. You watch your phone depart from you. The phone watches the ride. You watch the recording of what the phone saw. We watch what you watched. It is entertainment for machines. Could be the future. Or just art. There’s a big lesson here, but not sure what. — KK

Cheap gadget unboxing videos

You’ve no doubt seen ads for cheap toys and gadgets from China that look almost magical — the videos show things like a serrated knife that effortlessly shreds vegetables, or a tiny drone that flies way up in the air and shoots cinematic video. I’ll admit I’ve been tricked into buying these kinds of things only to discover they are junk. There’s an Instagram influencer named KYD who has amassed an audience of 13 million followers by unboxing items from these ads and testing whether they work as promised. Most are worthless, but about one in ten actually perform as promised. The videos are short and addictive. I watched for an hour straight. — MF

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Book Freak #223: Scarcity Brain

Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough

Get Scarcity Brain

Scarcity Brain reveals why we constantly crave more food, stuff, information, and influence than we need. Understanding your evolutionary wiring can help you feel like you have enough.

Core Principles

The Scarcity Loop Drives Our Worst Habits

Easter identifies a three-part mechanism he calls the “scarcity loop” that drives compulsive behaviors: 1) opportunity (a chance to get something valuable), 2) unpredictable rewards (you might win, you might not), and 3) quick repeatability (you can try again immediately). This loop explains the appeal of slot machines, social media scrolling, sports betting, dating apps, and overeating. Once you recognize this pattern, you see it everywhere. You can design your environment to break the cycle.

Your Brain Evolved for a World That No Longer Exists

Our ancestors survived in a scarce environment because they grabbed every calorie, resource, and opportunity they could find. Today we have an abundance of everything we evolved to crave, yet we’re still wired to act as if we don’t have enough. The mismatch between our ancient brains and modern abundance shows up in obesity, shopping addiction, and doom-scrolling.

Uncertainty Is the Hook

Our brains fixate on uncertainty. The possibility of a reward excites our dopamine system far more than a guaranteed one. This is why variable rewards are so addictive: the “maybe” keeps us engaged. Casinos, tech companies, and food manufacturers have all learned to exploit this quirk. Understanding this helps explain why we check our phones compulsively (maybe there’s something interesting) and why we struggle to stop eating chips (the next one might taste even better).

The Fix Is Understanding

Easter argues that understanding why we crave more lets us shake our worst habits and appreciate what we already have. When he lived with Benedictine monks, he learned to treat happiness as a byproduct of things like helping others and activities that build self-understanding.

Try It Now

1. Identify your scarcity loops. List three behaviors you do compulsively (scrolling, snacking, shopping). For each, identify the opportunity, unpredictable reward, and quick repeatability that keep you hooked.
2. Add friction. Break one scarcity loop by making it harder to repeat quickly. Move apps off your home screen, keep snacks in a cabinet instead of on the counter, or add a 24-hour wait rule before purchases.
3. Practice “enough” awareness. Before your next meal, purchase, or scroll session, pause and ask: “Do I actually need this, or is my scarcity brain talking?” Notice the craving without immediately acting on it.

Quote

“In the human brain, less equals bad, worse, unproductive, more equals good, better, productive. Our scarcity brain defaults to more and rarely considers less. And when we do consider less, we often think it sucks.”

Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run Recomendo, the Cool Tools website, a YouTube channel and podcast, and other newsletters, including Recomendo Deals, Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper, and Book Freak.

Tiny Sleep Aid/Roatan’s Sovereign City/Odd Airline News

Nomadico Issue #220

A Tiny White Noise Machine for Carry-on Packing

My wife and I have landed in Almaty after very long flights to Kazakhstan. We both packed carry-ons for a trip of more than three months of traveling in Asia. That can be a challenge, but she’s still got her sleep aid white noise machine covered with this tiny Babelio White Noise one with 15 sounds that she bought a few months ago at Amazon. It’s about the volume of a golf ball, but cylindrical, and the sound quality and volume are on par with much bigger ones we have tried. It includes a handy travel case.

Co-living With a Libertarian Twist

Here’s something that goes beyond a typical transient co-living space. On Roatan Island in Honduras there’s an independent, decentralized community called Próspera. But you don’t have to invest to experience it. Builders Node is an option for founders looking for try out the plug-in lifestyle in a freedom-based kind of community. Starting at $1,950/month, you get a private room, 3 meals a day, ocean-view co-working, access to the gym and pool, and regular activities. I haven’t seen anything else like this in the world and hope to check it out in person next year. See the details here.

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Random Airline News

Lots of odd airline news this past month, so I’m tossing them all in here. I didn’t see this one coming: budget carrier Allegiant (that recently purchased Sun Country) is installing first class seats. United got sued for selling window seats with no windows and the federal judge denied United’s attempts to drop it. American Airlines made its elite status worth even less than it already was, saying “forget about those upgrades we promised.” Also, the London stock exchange is losing another ticker symbol as easyJet got bought by a U.S. private equity firm.

Larry David + American History

If (and only if) you’re a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm, there’s a new show on HBO you can stream in bursts when you need a good laugh. Called Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, each episode is a series of sketch comedy vignettes that put a different spin on everything from the Boston Tea Party to the Shootout at the OK Corral to stranded Donner Party cannibalism. With one reliably annoying character inserted in each scene. It features a parade of 100+ funny actors and even Barak Obama. See the IMDB listing here.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

What’s in my NOW? — Keith Kahn-Harris

issue #267

I am a sociologist and writer based in London. Aside from my work at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (where I am a senior research fellow) and my teaching at Leo Baeck College (a rabbinic seminary), I am the author of 9 non-fiction books. My particular research specialisms are heavy metal music and culture and Jewish communities.

My latest book The Beautiful Death of Ozzy Osbourne: How Metal Teaches Us To Live was published by Harper North in June 2026. More info on the book and my work can be found at kahn-harris.org.

PHYSICAL

• Wobkey Rainy 75 Mechanical keyboard (with Gateron Oil Kings switches): It’s no exaggeration to say that my discovery of mechanical keyboard culture over the last year has made my life much sweeter. It has also helped me as a writer. I never knew that typing could be a gorgeous, synaesthetic experience; a feat for the ears and the hands. Since I replaced the stock switches with Gateron Oil Kings, the Rainy 75 has felt almost scandalously good to type on.
• Tom’s Studio Wren pen: I have always been a stationery aficionado so, when my wife sung the praises of this pen, I didn’t need much persuasion to get one for myself. As a fountain pen lover, the Wren has really surprised me – not only is it refillable, it has a smooth feel that I wouldn’t normally associate with a fibre tip pen like this. Using the Wren with my MD Studio A6 notepaper is pure loveliness.
• Plain yoghurt: I am on the weight loss drug Mounjaro/Tirzepatide right now. I’ve not only lost a lot of weight, the drug has also improved my general health and raised my energy levels. The side effect is some stomach bloating and discomfort. Plain yoghurt soothes and comforts. Some days it constitutes the bulk of my diet.

DIGITAL

• Fedora Atomic Cosmic Linux: I installed this distribution on a spare laptop a few months ago and I have been really enjoying it. It’s zippy, reliable and comes with auto-tiling, which makes organising the desktop a cinch. I still have to use my clunky windows 11 laptop for work but, every chance I get I switch over to an operating system that is a joy to use.
• I switched over from Evernote to Obsidian a few months ago. I use it for note-taking, web clipping and as a personal knowledge base. The learning curve was a bit steep and the endless customisation options can be overwhelming. But it has allowed me to build a system that reflects my needs and working style. Plus everything is stored locally as markdown, rather than in a proprietary format as with Evernote.

INVISIBLE

Early mornings: One of the unexpected benefits of Mounjaro/Tirzepatide has been that I sleep well and wake early. I am often at my desk at 7am, rested and ready for the day. This has had a revolutionary impact on my life. Instead of waking late after a broken night’s sleep, I start the day before many other people are even awake. The world is quieter then and there is space to think and to create.

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What’s in my NOW? — Keith Kahn-Harris