This interview is part of WNYC and Gothamist’s “Food Memoir” series, in which we invite New Yorkers to share stories behind their cooking experiences and favorite recipes.
In the midst of the mundane and often bleak existence of the Stalinist era in the former Soviet Union, a young Larisa Frumkin discovered a refuge – the kitchen. The 89-year-old, who was born in the Black Sea port of Odessa and later moved to Moscow with her family, recalls a life marked by scarcity and boredom. Long lines for food and chronic shortages were daily challenges.
Yet, in the face of adversity, the kitchen emerged as Frumkin’s sanctuary when she was 13. She said she could find time to be alone in her family’s crowded apartment, and often cooked for her grandfather when the rest of the family was on vacation.
Frumkin said the kitchen was a place for experimentation, and recalled a time when she made pizza from an Italian cookbook. She cooking made her feel like an “adventurer.”
Frumkin fled Soviet rule in 1974 with her then 10-year-old daughter. They first went to Vienna and Italy before coming to the United States and settling in Philadelphia and then New York. She’s been living in Jackson Heights, Queens for about 40 years. Frumkin has worked as a teacher and a docent with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is now a cooking instructor with League of Kitchens, an organization that offers cooking classes led by immigrant women from around the world. Frumkin’s daughter, Anya von Bremzen, pursued a career as a professional food writer and earned a James Beard award for her cookbook “Please to the Table,” which features her mother’s recipes.
We talked with Frumkin about her passion for cooking and asked her to share one of her cherished recipes.
The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and content.
Gothamist: What are your earliest memories of the kitchen?
Larisa Frumkin: It started when I was 13. Cooking was a way to escape from everyday life. Cooking became my…
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