Our Food, Petersburg Types and Other Essays by Anatoly Bakhtiarov

Anatoly Bakhtiarov's essays are familiar to lovers of the history of Petersburg in one way or another. In 1994, the journalist's most famous work from the Chekhov era – «The Belly of Petersburg» – was republished and enjoyed sensational success. However, «The Belly» contains only a tenth of the researcher’s works on Petersburg's everyday life. In little-known thin pre-revolutionary magazines, the most curious publications about food trade in the then capital, about the outskirts and factory life of the late 19th – early 20th century were discovered. Lev Lurie and Vera Garmanova collected the best material into a single collection and commented on this extensive and truthful chronicle of markets and craft workshops, urban rituals, the life of artels, solitary craftsmen, machine workers, the morals of the outskirts and factory villages.