Pavel Pavlovich Syutkin (author)

Pavel Pavlovich Syutkin (Russian: Павел Павлович Сюткин; born 1965) is a Russian food historian and author. He has written books on the history of Russian cuisine, including the cookbook CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine.

Life and career

Syutkin was born in 1965. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1987. He earned a PhD in history in 1990. In the 1990s and 2000s, he worked in the civil service and in banking and investment.

In the early 2010s, Syutkin began researching the history of Russian cuisine. In 2011, Syutkin and his wife Olga Syutkina published Непридуманная история русской кухни (True Stories of Russian Cuisine). The couple received the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the category Culinary History in 2014 and the Gourmand Best of the Best 25 in the category “Food Heritage” in 2020. In 2015, they published the English-language version of the book as CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine. The book includes recipes alongside historical commentary on Soviet food culture. As noted by The Guardian, "Olga and Pavel Syutkin’s CCCP Cook Book continues the trend, serving up recipes of Soviet-era classics while delving into the stories behind the dishes to offer a cultural history of the USSR through its food." The book also received a positive review in The New York Times.

In 2018, he co-produced the documentary series History of Russian Food (История русской еды) for Russia-K. From 2022 to 2025, Syutkin and Syutkina wrote a recurring column titled The Weekend Kitchen for The Moscow Times. He has also wrote for Radio Liberty, including video commentary under the title Taste of Freedom.

In 2022, Rossiyskaya Gazeta described Olga and Pavel Syutkin as “the most famous researchers of the history of Russian cuisine today.”

In recent years Pavel Syutkin gained reputation as a critic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The anti-war position is held by Russian cuisine researchers Pavel and Olga Syutkin, who are among the few in Russia who openly declare their views”.

Selected publications

• Непридуманная история русской кухни – True Stories of Russian Cuisine. Moscow, 2011. ISBN 978-5-271-32289-1.
• Непридуманная история советской кухни – History of Soviet Cuisine. Moscow, 2013. ISBN 978-5-17-077317-6.
• Непридуманная история русских продуктов – True Stories of Russian Food and Dishes. Moscow, 2014. ISBN 978-5-17-088552-7.
• CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine. Fuel Publishing, London, 2015. ISBN 978-0-9931-9111-4.
• Russia's Cuisine: Tradition and Modernity. Moscow, 2015. ISBN 978-5-98397-069-6.
• Русская и советская кухня в лицах – Russian and Soviet Cuisine in Faces. Moscow, 2016. ISBN 978-5-17-092300-7.
• Русская кухня: от мифа к науке – Russian Cuisine: From Myth to Science. Moscow, 2022. ISBN 978-5-4448-1784-1.
• Тысяча лет за русским столом (Непридуманная история суздальской кухни) – A Thousand Years at the Russian Table: The True Story of Suzdal Cuisine. Moscow, 2024. ISBN 978-5-85271-809-9.