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

A lovingly-documented collection of recipes and stories from growing up and cooking in the Soviet diaspora, by one of the industry’s brightest stars. 

Chesnok: Recipes with Love from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Beyond is Polina Chesnakova’s third cookbook, a love letter to the food of her childhood. Born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from Georgia, she grew up cooking and eating at the hip of her mother and aunts.  From Georgian tkemali (sour plum sauce) and Armenian gata (butter pastry) to Ukrainian varenyky (dumplings) and Russian golubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls) and medovik (honey cake), Chesnok showcases over 110 vibrant regional recipes. Essays, stories, and profiles of the amazing cooks in her life are peppered amongst recipes as diverse as the communities from which they blossomed and the immigrant experience they were subsequently passed down in.

Chesnok paints a potrait of the Soviet diaspora through food, and is for the children of that diaspora, but it is also for anyone looking to expand their palate and pantry and learn the rich history of a people through their most cherished recipes and traditions.

About the Author

Polina Chesnakova was born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from the country of Georgia. She was raised in a tight-knit Rhode Island community of refugees from all over the former Soviet Union, and has cooked and baked in a handful of professional kitchens. She’s had her blog (now newsletter) Chesnok since 2015, and her work has been published in Saveur, Epicurious, The Washington Post, and Food 52. She has written two cookbooks: Hot Cheese and Everyday Cake. She worked for Book Larder in Seattle and presided over the cooking class program as the Culinary Director from 2021-2023. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, Lee, and son, Anton.