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Until the Last Pickle

A memoir in 18 recipes

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Born to a Jewish mother and Ukrainian father during the final years of the Soviet Union, Yuliya Patsay grew up believing bread lines were a fun way to spend an afternoon, drafts caused pneumonia, and that Lenin was everyone's benevolent grandpa.


After trading pickled herring and Soviet winters for San Francisco fog and year-round produce (the real American dream!) she found herself occupying two parallel universes: the first grounded in her Soviet roots and the second in her burgeoning 'Amerikanskiye' beliefs.


Irreverent, nostalgic and vulnerable, Until the Last Pickle, is a memoir replete with remembrances, anecdotes, and exactly 18 recipes. It's an exploration of identity and belonging - at once, deeply personal and broadly relatable - told through the lens of one family's "totally average" immigration journey.

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    • Kirkus

      Patsay offers a combination of personal memoir and family recipe collection. The author lived in the former Soviet Union until she was 7 years old before immigrating to America, which informed much of her taste in food. Plenty of culturally familiar recipes are included here, such as Farshmak (aka "Jewish caviar"), pickled tomatoes, and golubsti (stuffed cabbage rolls). Soviet customs, including hospitality traditions and common superstitions, are addressed with humor. Patsay describes everyday celebrations, which required subterfuge to include banned music or secure extra rations; sometimes the family simply decided to use the fanciest tableware for dinner on a given evening. "Proverb Alerts" and "Fun Fact" sidebars provide glimpses into the author's early life, such as standing in bread lines at the age of 5 when she could safely cross the street by herself, her Babushka Liliya's crepes, family wedding photos and menus, and birthday cakes. Patsay also tackles some thornier topics of life in the Soviet Union, such as the religion and theology of the proletariat. The author's voice is casual, snarky, and self-aware; she understands how to structure a story that will instantly hook the reader while conveying the deeply personal memories of her childhood. The book's presentation is pleasingly varied; some sections employ a Q&A format, and there are mix-and-match charts of dishes for special occasions alongside longer essays. In a fun educational twist, the text includes examples of Cyrillic Russian with Anglicized pronunciations of same and the English translations ("Beyond wishing the birthday recipient a happy birthday, we had (and continue to uphold) the tradition of celebrating everyone in connection with the birthday person with the greeting of с именинником [s immeninikom] that essentially translates to 'I congratulate you on the birth of the special person close to you whose birthday it is'"). There is also a glossary and list of idioms for quick reference. An engaging personal history and selection of Ukrainian dishes.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)

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