Ukrainian Traditional Food

Since ancient times bread has held a special primary position in the cuisine of the Ukrainian people. Long ago the grain for flour was ground manually between two rounded grindstones. Then, beginning in the 13^th century, water mills and windmills appeared. Today flour milling is highly developed. As milling technology was improved, white flour was produced by repeated grinding and sifting. This type of flour is used in baking white-wheat bread or light-rye bread. Besides ordinary bread Ukrainians bake various ritual breads from special dough: the braided bread (kalach), Easter bread (paska), wedding bread (korovai), sweet bread (babka) and egg bread (bulka). Ukrainian bread with its many variations has become quite famous.

Cooked or baked cereal – whether wheat, barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, or corn grits – is an ancient Ukrainian food. The most commonly eaten cereals are buckwheat (kasha), millet, and in the Hutsul and Transcarpathian regions, cornmeal (mamalyha). The same grits boiled in water or milk to produce a thin gruel is called yushka; a thicker gruel of millet is called kulish. In recent times rice has been added to the list of cooked cereals.

There are also dishes prepared by boiling dough. The favourite dish made of flour is filled dumplings (varenyky) with various types of filling: cheese, potato, cabbage, meat, fish, buckwheat.

Potato is the most widely used vegetable in Ukrainian cooking. It is a necessary ingredient in all soups, particularly borsch and cabbage soup. Boiled or baked potatoes are served alone or with meat, fish, cheese, cabbage, mushrooms, and so on. Another important element in Ukrainian cooking is cabbage, particularly sauerkraut, which is used to make cabbage soup (kapusniak) or is served with meat or potatoes. Other vegetables such as onions, garlic, carrots, radishes and cucumber are frequently eaten raw. Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are usually dry-fried.

In the Ukrainian tradition a soup or borsch must be served with dinner. Various soups – made with meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, or milk – are popular, but borsch remains the favourite. It is made of vegetables, among which beets and cabbage are predominant, and meat or fish stock.

Meat is usually eaten on feast days, Sundays, or at family celebrations. The most popular meat is pork and its products, such as ham, sausage (kovbasa), blood sausage (kyshka), smoked bacon and salt pork.

Foods prepared with milk, dairy products, and eggs have long been a part of Ukrainian cooking. Soured milk is a favourite drink throughout Ukraine; a variant of this is riazhanka, made by souring boiled milk with sour cream. Cottage cheese is eaten mixed with sour cream or as a filling in varenyky or pyrohy.

Fruit and berries, when in season, are eaten fresh or made into custards (kysil) and compotes.

There are significant regional variations in Ukrainian cuisine that resulted the availability of different agricultural products, foreign influences, or even the conservatism of the common people in regard to change.

8.Answer the questions.

1.What holds a special primary position in the cuisine of the Ukrainian people?

2.What cereals are commonly eaten by the Ukrainians?

3.Potato is the mostly widely used vegetable in Ukraine, isn’t it?

4.What other vegetables are used in Ukrainian cooking?

5.What is borsch made of?

6.What is the most popular meat?

7.Do the Ukrainian people consume milk and its products?

8.In what way are fruit and berries eaten?

9.Fill in each blank with the appropriate word from the box.

meat borsch sour cream

wheat, rye and millet salo syrup or honey

bread varenyky soup

Agriculture has always been used extensively in Ukraine and (1)....... were the main ingredients for any meal for centuries. (2)........ was and still is one of the food elements that are never absent from a Ukrainian meal. It is used with (3)....... and the main course. Hunting was extremely popular in Ukraine, so (4)........ has become another essential element in the Ukrainian cuisine. One of the most favourite Ukrainian delicacies is (5)........ We use it in many forms – uncooked and fried, smoked and salted, baked and boiled. A choice for first dish is (6)........ Although this word is not translated, it is famous all over the world. One more favourite Ukrainian dish is (7)........ These delicious dumplings can be filled with potato, cabbage, mushrooms, cottage cheese, berries and what not. They are served with (8)......., sweet varenyky are served with (9)........

10.Match the names of Ukrainian dishes with their descriptions.

1.Varenyky 2.Pyrohy 3.Holubtsi 4.Borsch 5.Kutia 6.Nalysnyky 7.Kyshka 8.Deruny 9.Kholodets 10.Yushka

a) cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice. b) potato fritters, usually served with rich servings of sour cream. c) fish soup, made of fresh-water fish, usually carp. d) jellied meat. e) baked or fried dumplings. Usually more of a desert-type with fruit or poppy seed fillings. f) a sausage made from buckwheat and blood. g) vegetable soup (most common form made with beets). h) crepes, filled with cottage cheese. i) boiled dumplings, usually filled with potatoes, cabbage, cheese, or seasonal fruits. j) a Christmas eve mixture of cooked wheat, poppy seed, nuts, honey and delicacies.

11.Read about some of the most favourite Ukrainian dishes and be ready to describe them to a foreigner.