Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia

Named for the head of garlic found in nearly every dish across the former Soviet Union, Chesnok is a warm and thoughtful collection of traditional recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia—regions often grouped together, yet rich with culinary distinctions of their own.

Polina Chesnakova, born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from Georgia, doesn’t offer “Russian-ish” food or modernized takes. These are traditional recipes, gathered from a lifetime of cooking alongside family and community. In essays and profiles woven throughout, she addresses the realities of Soviet-era cultural labeling—where diverse regional cuisines were often collapsed under the label “Russian”—and how those distinctions matter now more than ever.

Recipes include grenki, a savory pan-fried bread; khinkali, Georgian soup dumplings filled with meat and herbs; matsvnis supi, a warming yogurt and rice soup; and chakapuli, a Georgian lamb braise with tarragon and white wine. There are sweets, too—like Armenian gata and the many-layered Medovik (honey cake).

The recipes are carefully written and well-researched. The publisher’s effort to fit each one on a single page keeps the book compact, though readers should be aware that the type is on the smaller side.

Chesnok contributes meaningfully to the growing bookshelf of post-Soviet diasporic cooking, offering depth, specificity, and a strong sense of place.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.