Then, the next important dish of Ukrainians is cereals – buckwheat, wheat or millet.

No dinner could happen without vegetables, fruit, berries and spices – dill, horseradish, onion, cumin, mint – Ukraine is rich on. It should be mentioned, that vegetables, fruit and porridge constituted the basis of the ration of Ukrainians. The traditional cuisine offers a wide variety of vegetable dishes: borsch, cabbage soup, pumpkin porridge, cabbage rolls, pickled cabbage, pickles of any sorts imaginable.  Moreover, eggs as an ingredient were always popular among Ukrainian cooks. People especially favored fried eggs with bacon and sausages. It must be considered that the main source of heat in a Ukrainian house was an enormous stove. That resulted in such a way that most meals were stewed, boiled and baked ones. Such a heat treatment allows preserving a unique flavor of food and its precious nutrients. The food remains very, very juicy when it’s done.

The next ‘national’ way to prepare food is to stuff and lard it. This technology is used for the preparation of  so-called kruchenyky and zavyvantsi,  stuffed poultry and vegetables, meat, larded with bacon and garlic. Such reach in fat and nutrients dishes deserve an important place on the dinner table. The point is, the way of living of Ukrainians was marked by a hard work; people needed high in calories, nourishing food to survive.

Ukrainian borsch and varenyky are famous all over the world, as well as bacon, as symbols of Ukrainian identity. Ukrainian borsch is a complicated dish to do: it requires more than 50 ingredients and is hard in preparing. Few people know, that borsch possesses strong phytotherapeutic features. A common Ukrainian family ate borsch approximately once a week.

Besides abovementioned popular facts about national cuisine there exist many interesting, but not widely spread hints and details, which make Ukrainian dishes so special. Formation of Ukrainian cuisine was influenced by the neighboring countries, tribes and conquers. For example, Muslims, who constantly subjugated Ukrainian territories, took away all the cattle, except swine, because of their holy book – Koran – prohibits eating pork. That is why Ukrainians have so many dishes with pork – because it was the only meat they left with! It is interesting to know that in Lutsk there is a monument in honor of pigs, animals, who saved people from a severe death from starvation. Ukrainians use pork and bacon as a separate meal or include them in recipes of more complicated dishes. So as to preserve bacon and meat for a long time, Ukrainians used salt. Most of the salt came from Crimea lakes and firths, where it was extracted for hundreds of years. Salt was delivered to every corner of the country by people, called ‘chumaky’. They were pioneers of the devastated by Tatar-Mongol yoke lands, and they were desired guests wherever they went.

The 18th century was the time potato became a popular culture on the territory of Ukraine. It appears to suit many first and second course, is used as a garnish to fish and meat dishes. This plant became ‘the second bread’ for Ukrainians.

Ukrainian people did not use to make salads or vinaigrettes. These dishes came from the West Europe in the 19th century. Ukrainians just sliced vegetables instead.

Ukrainian cuisine includes thousands of recipes: borsch, pampushkas, galushkas, loafs of bread, mushroom soups, mushroom sauce, banush, varenyky, sausages, bakery and drinks of honey and fruit. They are well-known far from the borders of Ukraine. Actually, it  is interesting to read about Ukrainian dishes; imagine, how interesting it is to taste them all!