Authors

Discussion

Recently, the scholarship of Soviet history is moving away from Russian-centric narratives. While there have been more studies on Ukrainian history in recent years, the Soviet period of Belarus, as well as the life of Crimean Tatars in the Soviet Union, are still marginalised in Soviet studies. My PhD research focuses on different aspects of the identity of the Soviet citizens and how they expressed themselves in everyday life. My paper focuses on the Belarusian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar people during the Soviet period from the 1930s until the 1980s. For this paper, specifically, I will be looking at cultural domestic nationalism, disrupting the common narrative of nationalism. My approach will analyse facets of nationalism in the everyday life of the ordinary people in the Soviet Union. I am looking at food and identity while analysing Soviet cookbooks as a form of propaganda. Soviet cookbooks would display national recipes. However, depending on the period, some recipes would have their origin in their title, e.g. Ukrainian Borscht, while other foods, such as Chebureki, would not be mentioned as Crimean Tatar food. My main source will be the cookbook The Book About Tasty and Healthy Food. It was renewed several times during the Soviet period; some national recipes were kept, while others, as for example, the Kalmyk way to prepare tea, would disappear in the version of 1952. This reflects, to some extent, the government’s attitude towards certain ethnicities of the Soviet Union. The kitchen played an important role in the everyday life of Soviet citizens; it was not only used for cooking and preparing food but also for socialising. People could express their identity through the food they prepare but also through the furniture and designs on tableware used in the kitchen.