the iMpErial Chef

The 1950s in Stalinist Estonia. It is as if the normal world has become a circus and many people act like clowns. Aadu bickers with his wife and loses his membership in the Communist Party. Muia gets food poisoning from devouring thick frankfurters. The old writer Eduard wants to write a novel on the life of miners and in order to do that wants to go underground. And amid all this insanity, the Tuglas family, which has been ostracised, tries to remain true to itself and preserve the memory of the good old world in their home. The Imperial Chef is Tuglas’s last short story. In some sense, he himself is also the Imperial Chef – old, experienced and respected.

This is a story of how even in troubled times, it is still possible to remain human.