In her seminal book European Peasant Cookery, Elisabeth Luard called Romania “a kind of culinary Galápagos Islands.” She was referring to the merging of Nordic influences (as seen in various methods of preservation, including fermentation, fish-drying, and pickling) with an almost Mediterranean use of fresh vegetables and fruit and baking techniques. I feel her description might equally well apply to Ukraine. Sandwiched between Poland and Russia, with Belarus to the north, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and Turkey a stone’s throw away across the Black Sea, Ukraine’s regional food is very diverse.
Besides, as its borders have been stretched and pulled, Ukraine has been exposed to plenty of other ethnic, religious, and cultural influences, which have been integrated into its cuisine, making it one of the most exciting food culture in Europe. Nowadays, you can find Transcarpathian villages where Hungarian, Slovakian, and Polish dishes live happily alongside the more usual fare of quintessentially Ukrainian borsch and varenyky. This mosaic of influences pervades every family. As a friend in Transcarpathia puts it, “My grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia, got married in Hungary, and died in Soviet Ukraine, yet she never left her village.”
Both Russia and the Ottoman Empire once encouraged people from neighboring countries, known as kolonists, to come and settle in Ukrainian territory. As a result, the southwest of Ukraine is peppered with Bulgarian- and Moldovan-style villages. And in the south, in the region of Kherson, there are also historically German and Swedish settlements. Lviv, in western Ukraine, and Odesa, on the Black Sea coast, as well as the whole region of Bukovina, used to be among the biggest Jewish hubs in Europe. To some extent, these pockets of different cultures remain today, and their heritage still resonates in various local dishes.
Olia Hercules, Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine
