Hello People of the Planet Earth! Howdie? Had your breakfast already? Coffee? Starbucks? Dunkin Donut? I have never thought that there can be stereotypes about breakfasts. What comes to your mind when you think about breakfast? It's very interesting that when you have breakfast in a Ukrainian hotel (I mean in a good Ukrainian hotel because we still have some remnants from soviet times) most likely you will have a buffet breakfast where you'll be offered fried and boiled eggs, meat, cheese platter, and vegetable platters, cereal, milk, yoghurts, porridge, bread, rolls, juices, water, teas and coffee. Breakfasts are usually included in the price of your room. It was pretty weird for me while travelling the US not stay for breakfast in a hotel. But then I quickly learnt that those breakfasts are usually not worth the time and a Dunkin Donut breakfast is a much better thing. The question is: Do Ukrainians have similar breakfasts at home too? And the answer would be yes and no. The thing is that we all are very different and have different habits just like anyone else anywhere in the world. But we don't have any kind of prejudice when it comes to breakfast. I mean if I decide that I want a steak for breakfast I can have a steak. And since most of us in Ukraine have breakfasts at home, we eat pretty much anything we feel like eating. So if there is a piece of pizza from yesterday or a couple of chicken patties in bread crumbs I will eat them. Unless I feel like having something "lighter" for breakfast or if I know that I'm going to have a lunch in a canteen or restaurant. We are not very picky with our breakfasts mostly because we don't often eat out, so when I know I'll have a long day and maybe no chance to snack I will have more substantial breakfast than just yoghurt and coffee. Of course, there are people that are extremely conscious of healthy eating since healthy lifestyle trends came to Ukraine as well. I personally knew a couple of ladies that are very slim but would like to be able to enter any room through a keyhole in the door. They usually have for breakfast dew collected from flowers and coffee with morning clouds instead of cream. Personally, I don't have all this prejudice about food, though I try to eat healthily, that's why I cook from scratch. But it was pretty funny when my American mother-in-law saw me eating chicken nuggets for breakfast. She asked whether I want her to cook me some scrambled eggs.
So how about other meals during the day? What is popular in Ukraine? At first a little bit of mythology. I don't know where it came from but most older people believe that without a soup any decent lunch is impossible. You will hear it from a lot of people that you MUST have soup, broth or any other type of so-called "first dish". I guess that one of the reasons why Ukrainian cuisine has such a great variety of them. The world-famous BORSCHT, red beetroot soup, is one of the best soups in the world. It contains all possible veggies and is served with sour cream. In my family, every lunch, especially in my grandfather's house starts with a soup of some kind. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization didn't find a confirmation that eating soup every single day is something that will improve your health. So as it turned out, eating soup is more a tradition than an element of healthy eating. Among other soups that are on my favourite list are tomato soup (unlike gaspacho it is served warm and has more ingredients), chicken broth with vermicelli (but I mean HOME chicken) and green soup which is, I guess, the most unusual one for any foreigner and is made out of sorrel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrel). My dad cooks the best soup in the world and it usually consists of anything he can find in the fridge. Traditionally he cooks it the day before my mom comes back from visiting my grandpa.
Second-course dishes usually consist of some meat and potatoes or boiled cereals (not Cheerios or Frosted Flakes, but I mean real cereals like rice, buckwheat, cracked wheat, millet, barley). We might have some fresh salad like tomato and cucumbers mix with a little bit of onion and vegetable oil or some pickled veggies. Unfortunately, a lot of Ukrainians don't eat very healthily and consume a lot of carbohydrates and sugars, I mean that they like eating different pasta, for example, because it's relatively cheap and quick to cook and they use a ton of mayonnaise when they make salads. Some of those habits are because of low incomes, some of them are from our soviet past since national cuisines were simplified or even neglected. In addition, during soviet times we had practically no food variety in the stores so making a rucola salad with feta, cherry tomatoes and quail eggs was impossible.
When it gets to the celebratory table Ukrainians will cook a lot and pretty much half of any recipe book. And when the table is served and there are one or two empty spots, any lady of the house will be in a panic because guests might leave her home hungry. That's why if you are invited to a Ukrainian house for a dinner I recommend you to prepare really well - don't eat at least for one whole day )) If you are a foreigner and you are invited to a Ukrainian home for dinner, don't just eat for one whole day but also get ready to be offered a lot of traditional dishes.
We are very proud of our cuisine and every time I read somewhere that Slavic cuisines are "heavy" I get a bit annoyed. Of course we have heartier food! We are not Mediterranian countries and don't rely on Frutti de mare (seafood), we have a continental climate and it means we have cold winters, rough springs and chilly falls, so it all reflects in our food: a lot of dough used for different kinds of dumplings, thick soups that consist of a lot of veggies, potato is a centrepiece because it's starchy and keeps you full for a long time. On the other hand, a lot of elaborate and even exquisite recipes were lost when soviet authorities decided that the difference between the nations in the Soviet Union should be erased. However, due to enthusiasts and patriots, we start having restaurants that revive old recipes and introduce them back. On top of that, we have a great variety of food festivals where you can taste a lot of different dishes in the same place, some are very authentic, others are with some chef's twist. Anyways, you won't starve in Ukraine.
What I like the most about big cities in Ukraine (and now small towns also catch up with the trend) you can get good quality coffee, pastries and hotdogs/sandwiches pretty much anywhere and choose the price range that is the most suitable for you. For instance, a cup of good quality coffee is available at $1 from any mobile coffee place in Kyiv. By mobile, I mean guys that have brewing machines at the back of their vans or any other vehicle that was turned into a small coffee shop. As well as really cool looking small stands with hipster-looking young people that can change a trivial hot-dog into a masterpiece.
Anyways, the best way to learn the country is to try its food. Welcome to Ukraine and don't forget to have dumplings with cherries and a bowl of borscht!
With all said, BEHAVE AND BON APPETITE!
So how about other meals during the day? What is popular in Ukraine? At first a little bit of mythology. I don't know where it came from but most older people believe that without a soup any decent lunch is impossible. You will hear it from a lot of people that you MUST have soup, broth or any other type of so-called "first dish". I guess that one of the reasons why Ukrainian cuisine has such a great variety of them. The world-famous BORSCHT, red beetroot soup, is one of the best soups in the world. It contains all possible veggies and is served with sour cream. In my family, every lunch, especially in my grandfather's house starts with a soup of some kind. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization didn't find a confirmation that eating soup every single day is something that will improve your health. So as it turned out, eating soup is more a tradition than an element of healthy eating. Among other soups that are on my favourite list are tomato soup (unlike gaspacho it is served warm and has more ingredients), chicken broth with vermicelli (but I mean HOME chicken) and green soup which is, I guess, the most unusual one for any foreigner and is made out of sorrel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrel). My dad cooks the best soup in the world and it usually consists of anything he can find in the fridge. Traditionally he cooks it the day before my mom comes back from visiting my grandpa.
Second-course dishes usually consist of some meat and potatoes or boiled cereals (not Cheerios or Frosted Flakes, but I mean real cereals like rice, buckwheat, cracked wheat, millet, barley). We might have some fresh salad like tomato and cucumbers mix with a little bit of onion and vegetable oil or some pickled veggies. Unfortunately, a lot of Ukrainians don't eat very healthily and consume a lot of carbohydrates and sugars, I mean that they like eating different pasta, for example, because it's relatively cheap and quick to cook and they use a ton of mayonnaise when they make salads. Some of those habits are because of low incomes, some of them are from our soviet past since national cuisines were simplified or even neglected. In addition, during soviet times we had practically no food variety in the stores so making a rucola salad with feta, cherry tomatoes and quail eggs was impossible.
When it gets to the celebratory table Ukrainians will cook a lot and pretty much half of any recipe book. And when the table is served and there are one or two empty spots, any lady of the house will be in a panic because guests might leave her home hungry. That's why if you are invited to a Ukrainian house for a dinner I recommend you to prepare really well - don't eat at least for one whole day )) If you are a foreigner and you are invited to a Ukrainian home for dinner, don't just eat for one whole day but also get ready to be offered a lot of traditional dishes.
We are very proud of our cuisine and every time I read somewhere that Slavic cuisines are "heavy" I get a bit annoyed. Of course we have heartier food! We are not Mediterranian countries and don't rely on Frutti de mare (seafood), we have a continental climate and it means we have cold winters, rough springs and chilly falls, so it all reflects in our food: a lot of dough used for different kinds of dumplings, thick soups that consist of a lot of veggies, potato is a centrepiece because it's starchy and keeps you full for a long time. On the other hand, a lot of elaborate and even exquisite recipes were lost when soviet authorities decided that the difference between the nations in the Soviet Union should be erased. However, due to enthusiasts and patriots, we start having restaurants that revive old recipes and introduce them back. On top of that, we have a great variety of food festivals where you can taste a lot of different dishes in the same place, some are very authentic, others are with some chef's twist. Anyways, you won't starve in Ukraine.
What I like the most about big cities in Ukraine (and now small towns also catch up with the trend) you can get good quality coffee, pastries and hotdogs/sandwiches pretty much anywhere and choose the price range that is the most suitable for you. For instance, a cup of good quality coffee is available at $1 from any mobile coffee place in Kyiv. By mobile, I mean guys that have brewing machines at the back of their vans or any other vehicle that was turned into a small coffee shop. As well as really cool looking small stands with hipster-looking young people that can change a trivial hot-dog into a masterpiece.
Anyways, the best way to learn the country is to try its food. Welcome to Ukraine and don't forget to have dumplings with cherries and a bowl of borscht!
With all said, BEHAVE AND BON APPETITE!
Mozzarella balls
Latte
Bagels in Kyiv
Hot dog with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella
My favorite - poppy seed strudel with glaze and coffee, of course ))
Pumpkin soup
Collection of beer bottles at the entrance to the Lithuanian Pub.
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