CHESNOK: A Conversation with Polina Chesnakova and Olga Massov

Join us in welcoming Polina Chesnakova for the first time to Bold Fork Books! Gesine will be discussing her latest cookbook, CHESNOK: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora with local author and journalist Olga Massov.

ABOUT THE COOKBOOK

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.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Olga Massov is a cookbook author, editor, and recipe developer. She is currently an assistant recipes editor with The Washington Post’s Food section. Her latest cookbook, HOT SHEET, celebrates the versatility of sheet pan cooking, and includes breakfasts, dinners, and desserts. Among her other collaborations are popular food blogger and television personality Jocelyn Delk Adams, Brooklyn-based chain Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, and many others. Olga lives with her husband, son, cat, and Labrador retriever in Maryland.