Across the Soviet Union and eastern Europe during the socialist period, food emerged as a symbol of both the successes and failures of socialist ideals ofprogress, equality, and modernity. By the late 1980s, the arrival of McDonald'sbehind the Iron Curtain epitomized the changes that swept across the socialistworld. Not quite two decades later, the effects of these arrivals were evident inthe spread of foreign food corporations and their integration into localcommunities. This book explores the role played by food -- as commodity, symbol, andsustenance -- in the transformation of life in Russia and eastern Europe since theend of socialism. Changes in food production systems, consumption patterns, foodsafety, and ideas about health, well-being, nationalism, and history provide usefulperspectives on the meaning of the postsocialist transition for those who livedthrough it.