March 2022: ALL EYES ON (THE COOKING OF) UKRAINE
Much as I try to insulate The Kitchen Scholar from politics, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia Vladimir Putin has alarmed me to take a definitive stance before time runs too late to do so. To the curious minds, I side with the Ukrainians, and to express my solidarity with them and raise awareness of their cultural survival in these tumultuous times, all featured recipes this month will share a common Eastern Slavic nationality.
According to Marta Pisetska Farley, tartness and texture characterize the cuisine of Ukraine. Ukrainians savor the anaerobic fermentation of grains and vegetables into acidic foundations for soups, sauces, and stews. Mildly-soured cream known as smetana, which is similar to the French crème fraìche, will accompany dumplings, dress salads, or fill and flavor desserts. Given the country’s continental breadbasket title, farinaceous ingredients, ranging from wheat to rye to millet to barley, define the high textural qualities of local dishes. Two contrasting sauces must coexist in cooked meats and fishes. Not to mention, the biodiversity of wild and edible mushrooms foraged from the forests of the Carpathian Mountains never stifles the possibilities and imagination of Ukrainian cooking and tastes.
Culturally, Russian influence is only one facet and thus, barely touches the entire Ukrainian food repertoire. In fact, the contribution of Ukraine in that gastronomic exchange was far vaster and weightier than that of Russia. Ukraine also has neighboring Poland, Hungary, and Romania to borrow and assimilate additional culinary traditions from. Northern Turkish shores just lie across the Black Sea to allow the maritime adoption of staples that once graced the Ottoman sultanate kitchens. Breadth and multiethnicity gives Ukrainian cookery a distinct identity from its Russian counterpart, but it paid the unfortunate price of Soviet hegemony and erasure and continues to live under this stigma to this day.
Political activism against the ongoing war and violence in Ukraine can take the form of food and cooking. Therefore, The Kitchen Scholar acknowledges Ukrainian sovereignty and supports the administration of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by churning and featuring the ethnic dishes of the country this month and reclaiming the narrative from the obsolete Soviet cultural dominance indoctrinated to mainstream perception. Let us stand and bring glory to Ukraine in the kitchen by cooking for Ukraine!
