Witold Szablowski

¿Por qué Putin se inventó el mito de su abuelo, Spiridón Putin, como cocinero de las élites zaristas y soviéticas? ¿Cuál fue el menú de la cena que selló la desintegración de la Unión Soviética? ¿Por que Brezhnev odiaba el caviar? La fascinacion de Witold Szablowski por la cocina y su condicion de reportero le han llevado a reunir ambos universos en Como alimentar a un dictador y ahora en Rusia desde la cocina.En este libro sigue las huellas de los cocineros de los personajes mas importantes de la reciente y de la no tan reciente historia de Rusia y de la Union Sovietica, desde el ultimo zar, Nicolas II, hasta Putin. Sus protagonistas son testigos de acontecimientos -muchos de ellos tragicos- que han marcado los destinos de esa parte del mundo. Szablowski ha recorrido Rusia y varias de las antiguas republicas sovieticas, ha hablado con los cocineros de los primeros secretarios, de astronautas y de soldados rasos en el frente afgano. Ha conseguido terribles testimonios de las mujeres que cocinaron para los liquidadores de la central nuclear de Chernobil.El autor muestra como la comida ha sido en Rusia una herramienta de propaganda, y no solo en la epoca sovietica. Es fascinante seguir la gran politica desde la perspectiva de la cocina y conocer, de paso, la enorme variedad gastronomica y cultural de los lugares reflejados en el libro.

A spicy and original romp through Russian history ROBERT SERVICE Poignant comical and in the best sense disturbing PAUL FREEDMAN AUTHOR OF TEN RESTAURANTS THAT CHANGED AMERICA This wickedly delicious tale uncovers the secret gustatory history of the Kremlin and will leave you begging for seconds DOUGLAS SMITH AUTHOR OF RASPUTIN FAITH POWER AND THE TWILIGHT OF THE ROMANOVSWhat s Cooking in the Kremlin is a tale of feast and famine told from the kitchen the narrative of one of the most complex troubling and fascinating nations on earth We will travel through Putin s Russia with acclaimed author Witold Szablowski as he learns the story of the chef who was shot alongside the Romonovs and the Ukrainian woman who survived the Great Famine created by Stalin and still weeps with guilt the soldiers on the Eastern front who roasted snails and made nettle soup as they fought back Hitler s army the woman who cooked for Yuri Gagarin and the cosmonauts and the man who ran the Kremlin kitchen during the years of plenty under Brezhnev We will hear from the women who fed the firefighters at Chernobyl and the story of the Crimean Tatars who returned to their homeland after decades of exile only to flee once Russia invaded Crimea again in 2014 In tracking do

Durante cientos de años, los gitanos búlgaros entrenaron osos para bailar, integrándoles en sus familias y llevándolos de gira por carretera para actuar. A principios de la década de 2000, con la caída del comunismo, se vieron obligados a liberar a los osos en un refugio de vida silvestre. Pero incluso hoy, cuando los osos ven a un humano, todavia se levantan sobre sus patas traseras para bailar. En la tradicion de Ryszard Kapuscinski, el galardonado periodista polaco Witold Szablowski descubre historias extraordinarias de personas en toda Europa del Este y en Cuba que, al igual que los osos bailarines de Bulgaria, ahora son libres, pero que parecen nostalgicos de la epoca en que no lo eran.

A devastatingly original look at the worlds worst dictators, through the eyes of their personal chefs, by award-winning Polish author Witold Szablowski.What is it like to cook for the most dangerous men in the world?In this darkly funny and fascinating book, Witold Szablowski travels across four continents in search of the personal chefs of five dictators. From the savannahs of Kenya to the faded glamour of Havana, and the bombed-out streets of Baghdad, Szablowski finds the men and women who cooked fish soup for Saddam Hussein, roasted goat for Idi Amin and chopped papaya salad for Pol Pot. He reveals the strangeness of a job where a single culinary mistake could be fatal, but a well-seasoned dish could change your life. And in doing so, he lifts the veil on what life is like at the very heart of power.

¿Por qué Putin se inventó el mito de su abuelo, Spiridón Putin, como cocinero de las élites zaristas y soviéticas? ¿Cuál fue el menú de la cena que selló la desintegración de la Unión Soviética? ¿Por que Brezhnev odiaba el caviar? La fascinacion de Witold Szablowski por la cocina y su condicion de reportero le han llevado a reunir ambos universos en Como alimentar a un dictador y ahora en Rusia desde la cocina.En este libro sigue las huellas de los cocineros de los personajes mas importantes de la reciente y de la no tan reciente historia de Rusia y de la Union Sovietica, desde el ultimo zar, Nicolas II, hasta Putin. Sus protagonistas son testigos de acontecimientos -muchos de ellos tragicos- que han marcado los destinos de esa parte del mundo. Szablowski ha recorrido Rusia y varias de las antiguas republicas sovieticas, ha hablado con los cocineros de los primeros secretarios, de astronautas y de soldados rasos en el frente afgano. Ha conseguido terribles testimonios de las mujeres que cocinaron para los liquidadores de la central nuclear de Chernobil.El autor muestra como la comida ha sido en Rusia una herramienta de propaganda, y no solo en la epoca sovietica. Es fascinante seguir la gran politica desde la perspectiva de la cocina y conocer, de paso, la enorme variedad gastronomica y cultural de los lugares reflejados en el libro.

¿Qué menú degustaba Pol Pot mientras dos millones de camboyanos morían de hambre? ¿Idi Amin realmente comió carne humana? ¿Y por qué Fidel Castro estaba obsesionado con una vaca lechera?Este es un viaje a traves de cuatro continentes. Desde las ruinas de Irak hasta las sabanas de Kenia, Witold Szablowski rastrea en este libro a los chefs personales de cinco dictadores conocidos por oprimir y masacrar a sus propios ciudadanos: Sadam Husein, de Iraq; Idi Amin, de Uganda; Enver Hoxha, de Albania; Fidel Castro, de Cuba y Pol Pot, de Camboya. Estos cocineros cuentan historias sobre sopa agridulce, pilaf de carne de cabra, botellas de ron y juegos de Gin rummy.El presente volumen es un plato deliciosamente legible y muy serio.Como alimentar a un dictadorproporciona una vision, cortada con el filo de un cuchillo de cocina, de la vida bajo la tirania.

Que peuvent dire de l’histoire ceux qui ont cuisiné à des moments clés de l’histoire ? Idi Amin Dada consommait-il vraiment de la chair humaine ? Et pourquoi Fidel Castro était-il obsédé par une vach

A New York Times Editors ChoiceEntertaining . . . A heady mix of propaganda and paranoia . . . [Szabowski writes] sensitively . . . not just about food but also its terrible absence. The New York Times Book ReviewRivetinga delicious odyssey full of history, humor, and jaw-dropping stories. If you want to understand the making of modern Russia, read this book. Daniel Stone, bestselling author of The Food ExplorerA high-spirited, eye-opening, appetite-whetting culinary travel adventure that tells the story of the last hundred years of Russian power through food, by an award-winning Polish journalist whos been praised by both Timothy Snyder and Bill BufordIn the gonzo spirit of Anthony Bourdain and Hunter S. Thompson, Witold Szabowski has tracked downand broken bread withpeople whose stories of working in Kremlin kitchens impart a surprising flavor to our understanding of one of the worlds superpowers.In revealing what Tsar Nicholas IIs and Lenins favorite meals were, why Stalins cook taught Gorbachevs cook to sing to his dough, how Stalin had a food tester while he was starving the Ukrainians during the Great Famine, what the recipe was for the first soup flown into outer space, why Brezhnev hated caviar, what was served to the Soviet Unions leaders at the very moment they decided the USSR should cease to exist, and whether Putins grandfather really did cook for Lenin and Stalin, Szabowski has written a fascinating oral historycomplete with recipes and photosof Russias evolution from culinary indifference to decadence, famine to feasts, and of the Kremlins Olympics-style preoccupation with food as an expression of the countrys global standing.Traveling across Stalins Georgia, the war fronts of Afghanistan, the nuclear wastelands of Chornobyl, and even to a besieged steelworks plant in Mariupoloften with one-of-a-kind access to locales forbidden to foreign eyes, and with a rousing sense of adventure and an inimitable ability to get people to spill the teahe shows that a century after the revolution, Russia still uses food as an instrument of war and feeds its people on propaganda.

Amazing stories . . . Intimate portraits of how [these five ruthless leaders] were at home and at the table. Lulu Garcia-Navarro, NPRs Weekend Edition SundayAnthony Bourdain meets Kapuciski in this chilling look from within the kitchen at the appetites of five of the twentieth centurys most infamous dictators, by the acclaimed author of Dancing Bearsand Whats Cooking in the KremlinWhat was Pol Pot eating while two million Cambodians were dying of hunger? Did Idi Amin really eat human flesh? And why was Fidel Castro obsessed with one particular cow? Traveling across four continents, from the ruins of Iraq to the savannahs of Kenya, Witold Szabowski tracked down the personal chefs of five dictators known for the oppression and massacre of their own citizensIraqs Saddam Hussein, Ugandas Idi Amin, Albanias Enver Hoxha, Cubas Fidel Castro, and Cambodias Pol Potand listened to their stories over sweet-and-sour soup, goat-meat pilaf, bottles of rum, and games of gin rummy. Dishy, deliciously readable, and dead serious, How to Feed a Dictator provides a knifes-edge view of life under tyranny.

*As heard on NPRs All Things Considered*Utterly original. The New York Times Book ReviewMixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr. Szabowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it. Timothy Snyder, New York Times bestselling author of On Tyranny and The Road to UnfreedomAn incisive, humorous, and heartbreaking account of people in formerly Communist countries holding fast to their former lives, by the acclaimed author of How to Feed a Dictator and Whats Cooking in the Kremlin For hundreds of years, Bulgarian Gypsies trained bears to dance, welcoming them into their families and taking them on the road to perform. In the early 2000s, with the fall of Communism, they were forced to release the bears into a wildlife refuge. But even today, whenever the bears see a human, they still get up on their hind legs to dance. In the tradition of Ryszard Kapuciski, award-winning Polish journalist Witold Szabowski uncovers remarkable stories of people throughout Eastern Europe and in Cuba who, like Bulgarias dancing bears, are now free but who seem nostalgic for the time when they were not. His on-the-ground reportingof smuggling a car into Ukraine, hitchhiking through Kosovo as it declares independence, arguing with Stalin-adoring tour guides at the Stalin Museum, sleeping in Londons Victoria Station alongside a homeless woman from Poland, and giving taxi rides to Cubans fearing for the life of Fidel Castroprovides a fascinating portrait of social and economic upheaval and a lesson in the challenges of freedom and the seductions of authoritarian rule.From the Introduction:Guys with wacky hair who promise a great deal have been springing up in our part of the world like mushrooms after rain. And people go running after them, like bears after their keepers. . . . Fear of a changing world, and longing for someone . . . who will promise that life will be the same as it was in the past, are not confined to Regime-Change Land. In half the West, empty promises are made, wrapped in shiny paper like candy. And for this candy, people are happy to get up on their hind legs and dance.

"Durante cientos de años, los gitanos búlgaros entrenaron osos para bailar, integrándoles en sus familias y llevándolos de gira por carretera para actuar. A principios de la década de 2000, con la caida del comunismo, se vieron obligados a liberar a los osos en un refugio de vida silvestre. Pero incluso hoy, cuando los osos ven a un humano, todavia se levantan sobre sus patas traseras para bailar. En la tradicion de Ryszard Kapuscinski, el galardonado periodista polaco Witold Szablowski descubre historias extraordinarias de personas en toda Europa del Este y en Cuba que, al igual que los osos bailarines de Bulgaria, ahora son libres, pero que parecen nostalgicos de la epoca en que no lo eran."

¿Qué menú degustaba Pol Pot mientras dos millones de camboyanos morían de hambre? ¿Idi Amin realmente comió carne humana? ¿Y por qué Fidel Castro estaba obsesionado con una vaca lechera? Este es un