They Cook Russian in America

An oceanographer and his Russian linguist wife engage in a little culinary glasnost.

What do you get when you mix an American oceanographer, a Russian linguist, romance, and Soviet bureaucracy? In the case of Lawrence "Coach" Coachman '47 and Marina Tarlinskaya the result was a lot of work over a hot stove.

The couple met while Coach was researching ecosystems of the Bering Sea. He has been teaching oceanograpy at the University of Washington in Seattle since 1962, and his wife is now

a professor of linguistics there. Together, however, they are a culinary team that has produced two out-of the-ordinary cookbooks. Their first, Cooking Russian in America, arose from a journal they kept during the two months they spent waiting for the wheels of Soviet bureaucracy to turn after they decided to marry in 1981.

Once permission for the marriage finally came through, the couple's journal began to focus on their mutual interest in cuisine. The resulting book informs the reader about Russian attitudes toward eating, the elaborate strategies most Russians must employ in order to procure many foods, and also offers a number of Russian proverbs and jokes. Originally published by Seattle's Peanut Butter Publishing, the book is now being marketed nationally by The Acropolis Press.

Coach and Marina have a second book, ATaste of Moscow—Recipesfrom Restaurants, coming out sometime this winter. For their research the couple made 100 restaurant visits in 40 days, interviewing chefs and management, and of course—tasting the food. Once back in Seattle,

Marina translated the recipes into English, and the couple bucMed down to reproduce the dishes they were served in Moscow. This is where the real fun and creativity came in, says Coach. The testing process involved many dinner parties, and "family and friends became the arbiters as to the ultimate success of the dishes." Two hundred heartily approved recipes appear in the latest effort.

Professors Coachman and Tarlinskaya moonlight in the kitchen.