Food Chemistry and the Soviet Quest for Development after World War II
Elena Kochetkova (Bergen)
- Beginning:
- Thursday, 15 January 2026 14:15
On 15 January 2026 we will welcome Elena Kochetkova to our Regensburg Research Colloquium. She will give a lecture on "Food Chemistry and the Soviet Quest for Development after World War II". The lecture will be held in English.
Abstract:
My presentation will examine the role of chemistry in addressing food shortages in the Soviet Union after WorldWar II. It will focus on the intersection of science, politics, and the environment by analyzing how food chemists justifi edand experimented with so-called synthetic food—edible substances produced in laboratories from non-edible materialssuch as oil. I will explore how scientifi c ideas and experiments circulated within both the scientifi c and political domains ofstate socialism, as well as how scientists and consumers perceived the taste and nutritional value of synthetic food.
The paper will highlight both the similarities and the diff erences between Soviet food science projects and comparableinitiatives elsewhere. It will argue that food chemistry off ered an alternative response to changing food systems amidresource scarcity. Although the synthetic food project largely remained confi ned to the laboratory, it neverthelesscontributed to the idea of modern, tasty food—one grounded in scientifi c experimentation rather than natural growth.
Elena Kochetkova:
She is an associate professor of modern European economic history in the Department of Archaeology,History, Cultural Studies, and Religion at the University of Bergen. She is the author of The Green Power of Socialism: Wood, Forest, and the Making of Soviet Industrially Embedded Ecology (MIT Press, 2024). Her current research projectexplores how modern food science and technology responded to global environmental challenges and food shortages,with a particular focus on the Soviet Union.
Cooperation:
Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World
Venue:
GS OSESUR, Landshuter Straße 4, 93047 Regensburg, room 017 (ground floor)