FOOD IN UKRAINE: NATIONAL CUISINE AND MODERN EATING HABITS

With the advent of globalization the eating habits of different nations are gradually becoming more and more similar. If you go to any supermarket you will find a large range of processed foods identical or similar to those you would find in any other country. Many people eat lots of sweets and/or fast food. Obesity rates are quite high and rising, especially among youth.

The average Ukrainian’s diet consists of relatively inexpensive and bland staple foods, traditional Ukrainian dishes, fast/junk food, and a few personal idiosyncracies. Low-budget staple foods include: bread, oatmeal, rice, buckwheat, porridge, noodles, sunflower oil, vegetables in season, sausages, eggs, sauces, etc. We’ll get to traditional dishes later.

Ukrainian-style cafeterias have become very popular in the past 10 years (e.g. Puzata Khata, Zdorovenki Buly, Drova and others). Here you take a tray and ask for servings of food that includes salads, soups, garnishes (side dishes), meat, vegetables, bread, and a variety of desserts. Prices are very reasonable and the food is generally quite good. Middle and high-end Ukrainian restaurants are also available, though higher-end restaurants tend more to offer international cuisine (sushi, Italian, mixed European, etc.).

Bliny, or pancakes or crepes —

Borsch — a thick vegetable soup made with beets and usually served with sour cream; meat optional

Buzhenyna — a lump of cold baked pork

“Chicken Kiev” — a cutlet of boneless chicken breast that is then pounded and rolled around cold garlic butter with herbs, then breaded and either fried or baked

Deruny or “Potato pancakes” — fried cakes of grated or ground potato with flour and egg

“Green borsch” or sorrel soup — a soup based on sorrel leaves and broth, often with eggs and vegetables

Halushky — thick, soft dumplings made with wheat or corn flour

Holubtsi or Cabbage rolls — cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of meat, rice, and spices

Homemade sausage — (self-explanatory)

Kapustniak — vegetable soup made of sauerkraut and/or white cabbage

Kartoplianyky — fried potato cakes with added flour and eggs, served with sour cream

Kholodets or “Aspic” — jellied meat

Kholodnyk or “Cold borsch” — a beetroot soup that is served cold with sour cream

Krovyanka or “Blood sausage” — a sausage made with cooked blood, usually with a buckwheat filler

Kruchenyky — meat rolls with a vegetable filling

Kulesh — a rich millet soup

Kutia — a rich, sweet grain pudding

Nalysnyky — thin crepes wrapped around a filling of curds, mushrooms, meat, jam, berries, etc.

Oladky — a thicker pancake with yeast or soda, served with sour cream

Pampushky — deep-fried pieces of dough; may be sweat or salty

Pechenya — (“zharkoe” in Russian) fried and steamed meat served in a clay pot

Salo — cured slabs of pig fat

Shkvarky or pork rinds — friend pork rinds (skin)

Sychenyky — fried cutlets of minced meat with bread crumbs

Syrniki — fried pancakes with quark (curds) served with sour cream, jam, or honey

Tsybulnyky — fried onion patties with flour and egg

Varenyky — dumplings containing curds, potatoes, cabbage, meat, or fruit

Vatrushka — ring-shaped pastry formed with curds in the middle, often with raisins or bits of fruit for sweetening

Verhuny or “Angel wings” — sweet strips of dough fried in lard or oil

Vushka — small dumplings usually filled with mushrooms and/or minced meatYushka or Ukha — a clear fish soup usually continuing sliced vegetables

Zrazy — meat pies stuffed with rice, buckwheat, mashed potatoes, etc.