Restoring Vacations after the War 157The inadequacy of pleasing food could be blamed above all on the endemic
shortages that plagued the entire Soviet Union in these hungry years, short-
ages mostly of food products but also of skilled kitchen staff. A conference
of the health resort system’s chefs demonstrated that though they wanted to
provide Soviet vacationers with an appetizing and beautiful dining experi-
ence, their hands were tied by shortages. Not only was it diffi cult to procure
fresh fruit and vegetables, but head chefs complained particularly about the
scarcity of spices and condiments, ingredients that could help to provide the
variety they and their customers desired. Seeking to raise the overall level
of resort cuisine, they shared their secrets for improving meals and dishes,
and master chefs demonstrated how to plan seven-day menus with plenty of
variety and good nutritional value. They recognized the importance of the
caring personal touch that had become the norm in the postwar years. The
Cultured dining room at the miners’ trade union Ordzhonikidze sanatorium in Sochi, 1949.
RGAKFD g. Krasnogorsk, no. 0207507. Used with permission of the archive.