The Culinary Curtain: How Communism Shifted Central European Gastronomy

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Conference Date

Spring 4-17-2026

Abstract

The Culinary Curtain: How Communism Shifted Central European Gastronomy focuses on the communist era in central Europe from 1947 to 1949 and the changes in food culture due to scarcity, government manipulation, and resistance. Food shortages were common throughout central Europe, though in varying degrees, requiring the project to limit its scope to five primary central European states- Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. Scarcity was especially dynamic in food culture during the early communist era, which shifted traditional recipes. Despite the limitations of food scarcity, gastronomy acted as a means of small rebellion throughout the region, especially amongst women. Finally, the project examines how central European states adjusted after the end of the communist era, as younger generations embraced the change, older generations maintained learned recipes from the communist era, and into today, where nostalgia for communist gastronomy has ignited. The project utilizes extensive primary sources, including recipes from the era, art, and interviews, as well as peer-reviewed journals and books to evaluate its claims.

Presenter

Joy Fayrweather

Faculty Mentor

Meredith Veldman

Award

2nd Place, Oral Presentations - Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

Academic Major

History & Philosophy

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