RU  UK  EN
Статьи  >  Imagine  >  What do they eat: Ukraine

What do they eat: Ukraine

Автор: 24.08.2021 | Ukraine, what do they eat
Spoiled with home-made borshch, holubtsy and cotlets, we are under an illusion that we know Ukrainian cuisine like the tips of own fingers and there is nothing distinctive about it while in fact gastronomic heritage of our country is far richer than a grandma’s ingenuous menu. Time has come to recall original Ukrainian dishes that were undeservedly forgotten in the era of semi-cooked products and fast food.

Abundant and eclectic Ukrainian cuisine reminds canvases of impressionists: juicy touches of Polish, Hungarian, German and Turk borrowings shape a neat picture performed by a virtuoso on a trembling string of mood, enhanced with overtones of associations and impressions. Isolated multi-staged thermal treatment of goods, inherent in Ukrainian culinary tradition, partly compensates for limited palette of tastes and rural simplicity of main dishes by allowing each component to sound in full swing without outshining a leading tune. Meat and vegetables are fried on slow fire, than sautéed and stewed in a dish with thick walls to ensure even warming of the mixture.pervak-59f96421e2998.jpgPhoto cf.ua

Ukrainian cuisine is relatively young – its specific features began to shape as far back as in 17th-18th century however it got fully formed only as late as in the middle of 19th century. Since part of population of Ukraine belonged to peasants’ layer engaged in physical work, high-calorie products prevailed in their menu: millet, buckwheat, leguminous plants, bakery, unleavened starchy foods, tallow pork and, sure enough, fat – universal energy resource, fit for consumption in raw, salted, smoke-dried and melted shapes.

Traditional Ukrainian lunch began with a thick rich soup, at that red borshch, that has over twenty ingredients in it, used to be cooked only on weekends and holidays. On weekdays full of work our predecessors preferred something simpler and faster. In the south-east they boil kulish – chumaks’ lorelei with millet, richly seasoned with pork fat. Lovers of hot dishes are sure to like cabbage soup with onion from Cherkassy or the famous hodz – pickle soup on beaf bone tea, flavored with forest mushrooms, rice and celery.

Read also: On the catwalk: Ukraine

At Zaporizka Oblast they still remember recipes of ancient dishes from Cossacks’ cauldron. Don’t panic should you discover a mysterious dish called “ryabko” at a restaurant’s menu – they don’t mean innocently killed watchdog (Ryabko is a common name for watchdogs in Ukraine) but about a most tasty broth on rye flour mixed with milk with additions of meat, cracknels, fish or crawfish. It was commonly chased with potaptsy – dry bread with garlic and onion, rye Zaghreb crusts or lemyshka – Lent-diet baked pudding or mush made of buckwheat on sunflower oil or lard, that is poured with either hemp or opium milk few minutes prior to taking it off the fire. To disappointment of fans of extreme, nowadays lemyshka is only served with kefir.c2ed510bfd875455defb71b9bf6a9a9b.jpg
Photo bzh.life

Ukrainians saved meat, baked puddings and bakery made of unleavened dough, boiled in soup stock for main course. Alongside widely-known halushky, in Poltava region they hold pundyky in estimation – thin crusts, mixed on curdled milk and hastily parched on a frying pan with onions and cracknels. By the way, classic Poltava recipe of halushky provides for meat or chicken filling – not cottage cheese dough we are accustomed to: such halushky were called “lazy” and cast a slur on reputation of a cook. Our ancestors had a sneak peak at varenyky, anthemized by Gogol, and borrowed them from Turks to replace a not-too-popular lamb with cabbage, cottage cheese and champignons fillings; and in Ternopilska Oblast they make hrechanycky (“hrechka” is Ukrainian for buckwheat) filled with red-hot buckwheat.

For better accessibility challenging meat dishes are consumed with vegetable garnishes – beet-rout, cabbage, turnip, radish, cucumbers and tomatoes. Classic example can be pechenya – pork stew with cracknels and vegetables, baked either in potties or bread plates. In Zakarpattya you’ll be offered a chowpent – ham or brisket with barley, beans and paprika. Potatoes, on the other hand, never managed to become second bread for Ukrainians: even mashed potatoes are recommended to be seasoned with beans, peas, sauerkraut or grated carrot. In Halicia they cook chinakhy this way – smoked pork ribs, layered with ground beans and baked potatoes.

Read also: 10 facts about Ukraine

Ukraine adopted affection for chopped meat through Polland from Germany. On holidays ladies try to serve as many delicacies as possible: tenderized rolled steaks “kruchenyky” with cabbage, mushroom or cottage cheese filling, sichenyky – flatbread made of chopped meat or vegetables, twisted rolls zavyvantsi, homemade sausages and blood sausage. In western regions one can also try kendyukh – young pig’s stomach filled with chopped meat.Depositphotos_76978825_s-2019.jpg
Photo forumdaily.com

Ukrainian native gastronomy will come as no disappointment to sweet teeth, too, for whom no feast is a pleasure without some desert. In summer season of sweet varenyky with cherries, honey and poppy seeds comes while long winter evenings are prettified with cookies, syrnyky – cottage cheese pancakes, verhuny –Ukrainian angel wings, and slozhenyky – egg pancakes with cream. While having dear guests, welcoming hosts are sure to take the advantage and serve a favorite liqueur on fragrant herbs, pungent horilka with pepper for a men’s heart-to-heart talk or a balmy cherry liqueur for beautiful ladies.

Cover photo kamis.ua

Вам это будет интересно:
Eternal love. Monuments to love in Ukraine
How much love weights and can its volume be measued? Does it have a garvity center and how it behaves in hours of ardent heat ot snow storms? Sure enough, love is an ethereal feeling that rather resembles crazy butterflies dancing in your stomach. However people, who have deep feelings, have learned to "create love" and convey its meaning in stone, wood or metal for others.
What do they eat: Algeria
OUTLOOK is pleased to present our "most delicious section", the texts of which will be interesting not only for gourmets and chefs but also for those who like to keep up and learn new stuff. Today we’ll have a look at Algerian kitchens and tell about traditional and most popular dishes from this great country.
What do they eat: Portugal
Having been to Portugal, at the very edge of Europe, the OUTLOOK could not help paying attention to the local cuisine. Read below about gastronomical predilections of residents and tourists of this once one of the greatest empires in the world.
Malanka and Vasyl winter fun: Carnival in Ukrainian style
The New Year in Ukraine did not always start with a Christmas tree, and instead of Santa Claus and Snow Maiden, guests were waiting fora minx girl - Malanka and motor-boy Vasyl accompanied by the retinue. All the follies were out of hand: the ridiculed riddles carried a sacred content, dictated by the logic of the myth of the duel of spring and winter.
Christmas Eve and What’s to Follow
Christmas arrives with a warm overjacket on its shoulders. At night it brings warm light of the first evening star and in the morning it wakes you up with shine of white but warm sun. If my great-grandmonther’s grandmother had been asked about her Christmas feelings, I believe, her words would have been identical to mine. Because together with a bowl of kutia,...
What do they eat: Rome’s cuisine
OUTLOOK often tells about the kitchens of the peoples around the world, but when it comes to Italy, writing about the country should be a crime. Each of its twenty regions has its own culinary world with the subtleties and specialties. Let the title of gastronomic capital of Italy be Bologna, its official capital - Rome, too, has something to boast about. We are telling you what is remarkable about Roman cuisine...
Museums that cure
“I’d like some headache elixir, mandrake root extract, heart pills and a bit of morphine, please…” – this is about how patients addressed pharmacists a couple hundred years ago. They, in turn, were preparing various magmas and mixtures in pharmacological laboratories situated as near as in the next room. Sure, nowadays technologies have significantly advanced, “remedy stores” fit in kiosks while drug-containing medicines cannot be bought without prescription…
What do they eat: Albania
Flavorous Çömlek, refreshing Tarator and warming Skanderbeg – what is it that we’re talking about? If Balkan countries are far from you and you didn’t spend your latest vacation by Adriatic Sea, today we’ll fill in the gaps and invite you to Albania but not for a simple tour but to the kitchen so if you manage to come back without extra kilograms, you can be safely awarded a self-mastery medal.
Life on water: 7 little-known Venice competitors
When we hear about "water city", Venice immediately comes to mind, doesn’t it? Tranquil gondolas, narrow waterways, gentle light of the evening sun and ancient architecture create that heady romantic cocktail which attracts tourists from all over the world to the Italian city.
What do they eat: Latvia
It is commonly believed that Latvia is all about Riga’s seashore, ancient cozy cities and perfect climate. All of it is true, but somehow many forget local cuisine. Having visited the country, Outlook cannot but share a story of delicious and sometimes very unusual dishes.
Ukrainian gardens of Babylon
Have you ever noticed how parks attrack us when it gets warmer outside? And what happens when you suddenly get there? Time stands still, something starts pulsating inside you, and your body seems to plant out fresh sprouts. OUTLOOK encourages you to visit the most beautiful arboreta of Ukraine, which you will exit feeling double alive.
VIDEO: Antique and industrial Kyiv
When sending stuff to trash can or throwing it away to a dumpster we don’t suspect that it doesn’t always mean death for it, now and then even in the contrary – it is a beginning of a new life…
What do they eat: Belgium
There is no other country in the world that has suffered so much from restaurant critics as Belgium. Riding superficially on waves of French-Italian mainstream, glossy publications scold Belgians mercilessly for their provincial tastes and universal cult of potatoes. Just think of it: to chase seafood with vulgar French fries and serve potato pudding as a main dish!
The most stunning flower fields in the world
Flower fields and valleys are impressive and attract attention of the most discerning connoisseurs of beauty. Multi-coloured deposits of fragrant plants adorn vast valleys of almost every country, in the most distant parts of the world. We offer several options for such floral carpets for every taste.
What do they eat: Peru
Today Iya Zaitseva shares her impressions of Peruvian cuisine that is rightfully considered one of the most diverse and delicious in the world. The word is that even meticulous researchers from Guinness World Records lost count when including Peruvian cuisine as the richest in terms of number of dishes.
What do they eat: Malaysia
It is easier to try teasing odor of Malay cuisine than to describe it. Give a shot at throwing into a boiling kettle a thimbleful of India and a pinch of China, spice it up with pungent infusion of Indonesia and sultry spirit of Morocco, add a couple of drops of Siam and stew on slow fire for several hundred years watching scattering of Portuguese influence melt in checkered amalgam of culinary traditions of peoples of Malaysia – and you will taste bliss.
In search of gastronomic Eldorado
I admit, this is not an easy topic - to describe the kitchen, which has recently become the main one for me. Now I live in Ecuador and have not tasted cabbage rolls, dumplings and even black bread for a long time. Although, I confess, I cooked borsch several times. Someone else's kitchen initially surprises, then becomes cloying and only at the third stage of acquaintance with it, begins to open its secrets.
History of the street: Dmytro Yavornytsky Avenue
With this feature on the main street of Dnipro, Dmytro Yavornytsky Avenue, we continue our rubric, dedicated to the history of differnt streets. Dmytro Yavornytsky Avenue is not just a central and most important street of Dnipro in every respect – it is also the picture of the many-centuries-long history of the city.
Flowers in Ukrainian Style. Kateryna Bilokur
Today marks 120 years since the birth of the famous Ukrainian artist - Kateryna Bilokur. Her talent has been recognized in her lifetime, her work has been admired by Pablo Picasso, and nowadays her paintings are exhibited in museums, and Google dedicates its doodle to her. And it all started in totalitarian times...
Director-General of the OUTLOOK Daria Kariakina on the Role of Public Initiatives in the Field of Cultural Diplomacy
On November 18 Director-General of the OUTLOOK Project and a public figure Daria Kariakina participated as an expert in a cross-border project European Values and Cultural Diplomacy: Youth Meetings Ukraine – Georgia.
Закрыть
Outlook facebook page