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

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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

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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.