Pulication date October 10, 2023

Summary

Slavic Kitchen Alchemy helps people find ways to add simplicity, peace, and ritual to their daily lives. Zuza Zak makes it clear she isn’t trying to idealize the old days when the reality of life was often a struggle for survival, instead she’s selecting those things that can help enhance our lives today. Her inspiration came from her two grandmothers, but is also backed by her own personal research. 

The book is filled with things to create in your kitchen, such as natural remedies, foods for wellness, and even beauty products. However, it also includes seasonal crafts, rituals, and folktales and mythology. While the author’s focus is on folk-healing rather than magic, she does include rituals that might be seen as a type of magic. She’s also very clear that folk medicines are meant to complement and not replace modern medicine.

Because it is broken down by seasons, it is easy to locate activities and foods appropriate to the time of year.

My Thoughts

This is the most beautiful book I have picked up in a long time! The illustrations were outstanding! There are lovely photos included as well. 

My favorite parts of the book were the crafts and the stories. The inclusion of the Slavic gods and goddesses was also intriguing to me because I haven’t read much about them elsewhere. The two crafts I would very much like to experiment with myself are the egg dyes and the natural fabric dyes. The pictures make them seem irresistible.

Foragers and those who enjoy working with herbs will adore this book! It opens up a world of possibilities. 

There are folk remedies and foods that look exceptionally interesting. Some of the ingredients are a bit harder for me to locate where I am or are only accessible via foraging, which isn’t something I can easily do. However, some recipes include things I grow in my garden, such as peppermint for peppermint oil, or things I could possibly grow in my garden. I’d never even heard of black radishes, but am going to see if I can find seeds.

Recipes for the foods, herbal treatments, and beauty products are all clearly written and appear easy to follow. I can’t wait to try making the dark rye sourdough bread! The author has written several cookbooks and knows how to make recipes accessible to her readers. Though I haven’t tried to make any of the recipes in this book, I have made things from the author’s Amber and Rye cookbook and found the recipes worked as they should.

My Rating 5/5

I received an eARC copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to NetGalley and Watkins Publishing for sharing this book with me.

I do plan to buy my own copy and following the author’s suggestion of making notes, including my own recipes, and passing the book down through the family. 

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About the Author

Zuza Zak is a Polish author living in the UK. She has written three cookbooks and enjoys using food and stories to share her culture with others. 

You can learn more about the author and her other books on her website.

Illustrations by Kira Konoshenko, a Ukrainian illustrator, who evacuated Poland and then to England when the war began in her country.