Rebellious Cooks and Recipe Writing in Communist Bulgaria

Description

How did people exist and resist in their daily lives under Soviet control in the Cold War period? Shkodrova’s monograph shows how in communist Bulgaria many women passionately exchanged recipes with friends and strangers, to build substantial and impressive private collections of recipes. This activity was borderline contraband in going against the general disapproval of home cooking that formed part of the ideology of communism, in which home cooking was considered household slavery and an agent of patriarchalism. Private recipe collections were by far the preferred written source of culinary information, more popular than the state-approved commercial cookbooks. Shkodrova shows how these recipe collections held many different meanings for the women who collected them, from helping to navigate the communist economy, to enabling new friendships to be developed while engaging safely in power relations, and cultivating a sense of individual identity in a society where collective existence was prioritised and exalted. Drawing on primary sources including scrapbook cookbooks and working from the establishment of cookery classes before communism and their obliteration thereafter, Shkodrova presents a structured outline of the meanings of recipes exchange and home cooking for Bulgarian women under communism. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication About the author Contents Figures Acknowledgements BEHIND THE COMMUNIST KITCHENS’ STEAMY WINDOWS What made women persist in recipe exchange? This book is composed of three parts PART ONE THE CONTEXT COOKING ADVICE IN BULGARIA SETTING UP THE COMMUNIST ARENA EARLY COMMUNIST COOKING ADVICE REFORMING NATIONAL FOODWAYS LEGITIMIZING CONSUMPTION EVOLUTION IN FOOD DISCOURSES EQUIPPING AND INDUSTRIALIZING DOMESTIC COOKING TAKING PLEASURE IN FOOD COMMUNIST COMMENSALITY REARRANGING GENDER ROLES IN THE KITCHEN VALUE OF TIME AND MONEY RECIPE MANUSCRIPTS TAKE THE LEAD HOW THIS RESEARCH WAS DONE PART TWO HOME COOKING BETWEEN COOKBOOKS AND SCRAPBOOKS RECIPE COLLECTION AS AN INSTRUMENT A MATTER OF ADEQUACY AND SIMPLICITY A MATTER OF PRECISION A MATTER OF CUSTOMIZATION A MATTER OF TRUST PART THREE THE MEANINGS OF SCRAPBOOKS NAVIGATING THE CONTEXT IT IS ALWAYS ‘THE OTHERS’ WHO DO NOT SHARE ENTHUSIASM FOR HOME COOKING SHARING THE KITCHEN WITH MEN STATE CANTEENS: TO USE OR NOT TO USE SPACES OF TENSION, SPACES OF FREEDOM: THE WESTERN, THE BOURGEOIS AND THE INDIVIDUALISTIC BOURGEOIS ANACHRONISMS A SEA OF PRIVACY IN THE DESERT OF THE COLLECTIVE PRESSURES REVERSE THE PERSPECTIVE DOMOSHARKI WITH FEMINIST TENDENCIES? MANAGING BUDGETS FOOD RESOURCES FINANCIAL BUDGETS TIME SCRAPBOOKS AS SOCIAL CAPITAL BONDING IN THE FAMILY NAVIGATING WIDER SOCIAL CIRCLES KEEPING SECRETS OR SHARING? AN EXCHANGE OF EXTREME FLUIDITY ENTERTAINING, INDULGING AND CREATING THE SELF IMPROVISING VERSUS COMPLYING THE SATISFACTION OF BUILDING IDENTITY SEEING BINOMIALLY ELEVATING THE STATUS OF HOME COOKING: FROM CHORE TO ENTERTAINMENT PART FOUR WHAT MADE SCRAPBOOKS INDISPENSABLE COOKBOOKS VERSUS SCRAPBOOKS? COMMUNIST FOODWAYS AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE References Index