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- Love & Borscht in Alaska
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- Rebecca Sheir
The tiny Alaskan village of Nikolaevsk (pop. 304) was settled in the late 1960s by Russian Old Believers: dissenters who rejected the reforms imposed on the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century.
The town is 25 miles north of Homer, just 9 miles east of Anchor Point. But step through the doors of Nina Fefelov's Samovar Cafe, and you'll feel like you've been transported thousands of miles, right back to Russia.
The Samovar Cafe is cramped but cozy, with lilting Russian music in the air and authentic Russian goods on the shelves. Nina sells everything, and part of her proceeds go back to Russia to feed hungry kids. Nina is especially proud of her collection of vintage Russian garb. She dresses each of her guests in collarless shirts and sashes, beaver hats and scarves, before doing what she does best: feeding them.
Step inside the Samovar Cafe and get ready to take a delicious bite... of one-of-a-kind worldly food, and one-of-a-kind worldly love.
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Piece Description
The tiny Alaskan village of Nikolaevsk (pop. 304) was settled in the late 1960s by Russian Old Believers: dissenters who rejected the reforms imposed on the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century.
The town is 25 miles north of Homer, just 9 miles east of Anchor Point. But step through the doors of Nina Fefelov's Samovar Cafe, and you'll feel like you've been transported thousands of miles, right back to Russia.
The Samovar Cafe is cramped but cozy, with lilting Russian music in the air and authentic Russian goods on the shelves. Nina sells everything, and part of her proceeds go back to Russia to feed hungry kids. Nina is especially proud of her collection of vintage Russian garb. She dresses each of her guests in collarless shirts and sashes, beaver hats and scarves, before doing what she does best: feeding them.
Step inside the Samovar Cafe and get ready to take a delicious bite... of one-of-a-kind worldly food, and one-of-a-kind worldly love.
2 Comments
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Review of Love & Borscht in AlaskaProducer Rebecca Sheir has a talent for elevating a simple feature to a rich sound portrait through the use of crisp writing, a wonderful interview subject, and a warm narration delivery. In this story about the owner of a Russian cafe in a tiny Alaskan village, one can almost taste the food that she describes. Ambient sound is used parsimoniously and effectively, and the piece is nicely edited. This is a great "soft" feature that would work well in any magazine program. |
Broadcast History
This piece originally aired on AK, the weekend feature program on the Alaska Public Radio Network, on August 26, 2006.
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Rich Greene
Posted on December 14, 2006 at 06:25 PM | Permalink
Review of Love & Borscht in Alaska
Speaking as somebody who knows absolutely nothing about Russian cuisine, the first word that pops to mind is 'educational'. I liked this piece alot because it not only taught me a thing or two about Russian food, but also because it reminded me of how lucky we are to be a nation that has so many flares and flavors to it, even in the most far flung places like Alaska.
The bit of Russian music at the end was a nice touch as well and the woman who owns the restaurant (Ms. Fefelov) seems quite energetic about sharing her experience with Ms. Sheir.
This would be a good piece to have on during the afternoon drive daypart. When I'm on the way home I'm constantly warring with myself over what to have for dinner so this could act as a nice suggestion and the listener could easily find themself curious and ready to dive into their first bowl of borscht.