Vail and Genis's Russian Cuisine in Exile Teaching this course on Russian cuisine, my favorite book has become Petr Vail and Alexander Genis's Russian Cuisine in Exile . It's a wonderful set of essays that are part nostalgia, part recipe, part cultural commentary, part advice column ("If you want to buy a clay pot for stewing Russian soups, best to go to other immigrant shops -- African or Caribbean.") I'm quite sure they named the book after Gleb Struve's classic Russian Literature in Exile , but it is eminently more readable and inherently more fun. I couldn't help quoting Vail and Genis while making tea the other day for my students at our big Russian feast: "[The Russians'] habit of diluting tea with boiling water is a historical misconception. This custom arose from poverty and grew into a superstition according to which it is unhealthy to drink strong tea." The authors go on to explain that this is utterly preposterous, and t...
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