New East Digital Archive

Soviet food stories: drinking and dining behind the Iron Curtain

Can you judge an era by its food? If so, what does the cuisine of Soviet eastern Europe say about life under communism? Our writers, raised in the last years of the Cold War, recount their stories of drinking and dining behind the Iron Curtain.

Last picnic: Ukraine 1989. Food, family and a taste of freedom as the USSR falls

Sweet nostalgia: Why the ice cream brands of communist Russia are still a hot favourite

Taste of home: Searching for the real Estonia one bite at a time

Cold war cuisine: Notes from a USSR cookbook

Wet and wild: Ten strange but tasty drinks from the new east

Image courtesy of the Tallinn Collector