Overview of Ukrainian Cuisine History

Ukrainian cuisine is varied and rich in taste and nutritional value. Its development was influenced by the same factors as the development of material culture: geography and climatic conditions, plant cultivation and animal domestication, technological change, cultural influences, and economic relations with other countries.

Since ancient times Ukrainians have practiced a settled form of life based on farming. Archaeological evidence shows that wheat, barley, and millet were grown in Ukraine 3,000 years ago. Rye was introduced about 2,000 years ago, and then buckwheat was imported from Asia in the 11th century AD. Already at that time cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry were raised. Beekeeping, hunting and fishing were practiced. The exceptional fertility of Ukraine’s soil and its climate were favourable for the development of agriculture, which had a marked influence on the type of food eaten by Ukrainians.

It is evident from the chronicles and other sources that even in Kyiv Rus’ food was choice, varied and plentiful. There were professional cooks at princely courts and monasteries, and in the homes of wealthy families. Until the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ukrainian cuisine was mostly characterized by peasant and rural made dishes. Simple and economical soups, without much ornament and very easy to cook meals were the main parts of the Ukrainian diet. Things changed when the tsars began calling French and Italian chefs to cook for their banquets and celebrations. The luxury and festive style of the dishes prepared by foreign chefs soon began to influence the existing Ukrainian cuisine. Although most dishes were kept in their traditional form, modern variations of those dishes are present in most Ukrainian homes today. New spices and herbs were used to improve the flavour of the existing traditional Ukrainian dishes and today you shouldn’t be surprised to find plants that are not characteristic to Ukraine used in traditional, home made dishes.

There are no distinguishable cuisine types in Ukraine, but a variety of different influences can be noticed by a careful eye. The neighbouring countries have influenced the Ukrainian cuisine, much as the Ukrainian cuisine influences the regional and national cuisines of the neighbours. The Lviv or Lutsk regions of Ukraine, for example, display a cuisine that resembles the Polish cuisine, with pork meat being the main ingredient for most dishes. The north-eastern provinces, such as Sumy, Kharkiv or Luhansk show influences from the Russian cuisine, while the southern part of Ukraine has several recipes that are specific to Moldova and Romania.

3.Answer the questions.

1.What factors influenced the development of the Ukrainian cuisine?

2.What grain crops did the ancient Ukrainians grow?

3.What was the food in the times of Kyiv Rus like?

4.Did foreign cuisines influence the Ukrainian one?

5.Are there any distinguishable cuisine types in Ukraine nowadays?

4.What adjectives from the list below can be used to characterize the Ukrainian cuisine?

varied plain tasteless nourishing colourless

delicious plentiful spicy satisfying healthy

5.Match the beginning and the ending of the sentences.

1.The Ukrainian cuisine is rich in …

2.The life of the ancient Ukrainians was based on …

3.The Ukrainians raised …

4.Agriculture had an influence on …

5.The Ukrainian diet included …

6.Tsars invited foreign chefs to cook for …

7.The cuisine of the western regions of Ukraine resembles …

a) … simple soups and easy to cook meals.

b) …the Polish cuisine.

c) … taste and nutritional value.

d) … the banquets and festive dinners.

e) … the type of food eaten by Ukrainians.

f) … farming.

g) … cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry.

6.Read and remember the following words and word combinations to Part II of the text “Ukrainian Cuisine”:

manually – вручну;

grit – крупа;

gruel -рідка каша;

filling – начинка;

sauerkraut – кисла капуста;

stock – міцний бульйон з кісток;

feast days – святкові дні;

custard – заварний крем (з молока та яєць).

7.Read and translate the text.