For immigrant kids it’s the school lunch box that knocks down all attempts to fit in. Desperately wanting cheese and Marmite sandwiches just like everyone else, the hideous embarrassment of garlicky beetroot dip or chicken paté with dilled cucumber makes it obvious that you’re from ‘somewhere else’. For Anastasia Zolotarev that ‘somewhere else’ included Belarus and Ukraine, and thankfully for us she survived playground dining and came to cherish and celebrate the food of those cultures as well as surrounding countries, such as Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania and beyond. In this book she untangles the strands, drawing connections here, emphasising diversity there. Burek, borsch, blinis and babka I know (and I’m keen to sample Anastasia’s versions), but I can’t wait to try stuffed onions with plums, steamed blueberry varenyky (dumplings) or a cabbage, carrot and caraway pie, its pastry made with kefir, soured cream and lots of butter. Toasted buckwheat stirred to a porridge then topped with creamy mushrooms could be my new breakfast for this winter (or lunch, or supper!) though the dish described as ‘herring under a fur coat’ might not be top of my list. Drawn very much from the heart of the family, stories enrich the recipes, such as a tale of layers of birthday cake carefully packed in a suitcase and carried on an overnight train from Kharkiv in Ukraine to Baranavichy in Belarus for Anastasia’s first birthday party. Years later, the same recipe became her wedding cake in Sydney. TRACY WHITMEY