Background article

Laima chocolate – a Riga icon

Latvia’s most famous confectioner and its Jewish origins
If you’ve ever visited Latvia, you’ll probably have heard of the chocolate brand Laima. Perhaps you’ll even have seen the Laima Clock, a popular meeting point in central Riga. Laima products have been among Latvia’s most successful exports all the way back to the 1920s. What’s less well...
Katja Wezel
Background article

The culinary Ashkenaz

Jewish food cultures in Eastern Europe
Ashkenazi Judaism is inseparably linked to Eastern Europe. Unique Jewish ways of life evolved here, only to be virtually annihilated by the Shoah. And yet, specific Ashkenazi eating habits, with their mix of religious rules and regional influences, survive in many places around the world today, in...
Gunther Hirschfelder | Antonia Reck | Jana Stöxen
Background article

Fasting Rules Become Food Taboos

How The Russian Old Believers Wanted To Distinguish Themselves From The Orthodox By Abstaining From Food
In almost all religions, dietary rules and food taboos play an important role. The example of the Russian Old Believers shows the importance that food practices and body images can have in differentiating them from those of other faiths.
Julia Herzberg
Background article

Siberian food and European taste

Siberian eating habits in the 18th century, as seen through the eyes of European travellers
This article invites the reader to join a culinary journey through Siberia in the 18th century in a company of ethnographers from Europe and the Russian Empire. For the Russian Empire, the 18th century was a time of great expeditions to explore the vast imperial territory that extended all the way...
Olga Trufanova

Prague Coffeehouse Culture around 1900

Background article
It would be almost impossible to imagine the rich history of European café culture without the Vienna coffeehouses or the Paris cafés. By contrast, the Czech capital, Prague, tends to be more associated with the consumption of beer. Yet, in the history of that city, the tradition of the...
Magdalena Eriksröd-Burger

Lembergs’s Coffeehouse Culture Before the First World War

Poles, Ukrainians and Jews mingling and meeting over coffee and tea
Background article
The east Galician city of (Lemberg) Lviv had a lively coffeehouse culture during the Habsburg Empire. Poles, Jews and Ukrainians would gather over pots of coffee and tea. As the First World War approached, however, a growing sense of nationalism could also be felt in these otherwise convivial...
Lukas Vogel

On the connection between migration, diet, and belonging

Russian German food cultures
Background article
To what extent can diet create social and cultural belongings? What is its potential significance in contexts of migration? Russian German examples demonstrate the very diverse ways in which questions of identity and diet are connected.
Anna Flack

Mini-Napoleons

The Triumph of the Puff Pastry Tartlets
Cooking recipe
Every recipe tells a story – be it that of one’s own family, social group, region, of nation states or whole empires. A particular dish is thus always both a symbol and an expression of cultural concepts. A recipe booklet compiled by students at the University of Bamberg looks at “Culinary...
Ani Hovhannisjan | Magdalena Eriksröd-Burger

Mayonnaise

The quintessence of Russian cuisine
Background article
Russian cuisine, especially festive cuisine, is simply unimaginable without mayonnaise. Salads such as seledka pod šuboj (herring in a fur coat), salat oliv'e (olive salad), krabovyj salat (surimi salad), mimoza (mimosa salad) and many more, as well as meat dishes such as mjaso po franzuski (meat...
Alexander Meienberger

Staesz Pfefferkuchen Spices!

Background article
The name alone is evocative of family traditions. It carries the promise of delicious cakes and biscuits, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.
Heinrich Lohmann