The public catering system of post-war Lviv: old and new practices

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the study is to analyze the formation of the stalinist ruled city’s new food culture, which arose as a result of significant ethnic and aesthetic changes caused by the war and the activities of the Soviet authorities in post-war time. The methodology of the research is based on general scientific methods, in particular, comparative-historical and system-structural ones, which helped to organize a significant amount of source material, to found and compare the content and orientation of Soviet urban nutrition at different stages of development. In the process of research and in solving the problems posed in the work the author relies on the main principles of historical science that are the principles of objectivity and historicism. The problem-chronological approach is used in creating the structure of the work. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it is the first to explore the problem that in such a formulation and chronological framework has not been studied in Ukrainian historiography. In the article, the author uses the example of the postwar Lviv to consider one of the key segments of Soviet everyday life that is the system of city food. Conclusions. On the basis of the rich archival material and analyzed special literature, the author compared the nutrition of Lviv citizens before and after the Soviet invasion. Traditionally dishes remained borscht, tomato soup, cold strawberry soup, pies (dumplings), pancakes, “holubtsi” (cabbage rolls) with tomato sauce, rice or millet gruel with apples, meat loaf, apple pie, poppy seed cake, honey bagel, biscuit cake etc. Instead among the Soviet culinary innovations were “beetroot soup” soup with noodles, “shchi” (cabbage soup), and salads of cabbage, cucumbers and carrots. The typical culinary books recommended by the Soviet food industry are determined. New food practices for the city have been reconstructed in the article, which appeared as a result of the introduction of typical socialist methods of management, built on a limited quantities of food. The structure of food supply in Lviv as well as the main types of cards, an additional liter feeding, the main types of food cards are characterized together with the abuses associated with them. The author considers the problem of the lack of cards for all the needy categories of the population. The city life under conditions of post-war starvation in 1946–1947 is observed. The curtailment of American food aid under the lend-lease is identified as one of the causes of famine. The article is also a review of prices for the main types of food, before and after the cancellation of the card system as well as the operation of the grocery network in the new conditions. A new structure of the city network is shown, the role and place of canteens in the citywide food system is determined. The typical rations of the state Lviv canteens and restaurants of the first post-war years are distinguished in the article. The author also studied the formation of entirely new traditions of service and food, popularized by the city authorities. However, local, traditional practices cultivated mainly by the local population, with few exceptions, have since moved to marginality and represent rather narrow domestic cuisine, than a broad multicultural culinary environment of Lviv.