Realities of Ukrainian Life: Part 1 - Food

So I’ve decided that maybe I haven’t done a very good job so far of describing what average Ukrainian life is like. Believe it or not, not every day is all George Michael concerts and buying puppies on the street. So I’m going to start a new series of posts here called “Realities of Ukrainian Life” (based on the title of a class I took at FSI called “Realities of Foreign Service Life”) and I want your input. Post a comment and let me know what you’d like to know more about Ukraine. For this week, I’m starting with Ukrainian Food.

Here in Kyiv, Shawn and I like to frequent various cafeteria style restaurants. It’s a good way to try different foods for very little money. Granted, the standard of food is, well, cafeteria-like, but where else can you get a 3-course meal with beer for two people for under $10? Your standard line-up in these places is: salad, soup, main dish and side, dessert, and beverages. So that’s the order I’ll work in…

Salads

The main thing you need to know about salads in Ukraine is that mayonnaise is king here and the only salad dressing you would ever need. The secondary thing you need to know is that anything can and will go into a salad. Oh, and I should clarify that there’s really no such thing as a lettuce salad here. You can get one at McDonalds, but I wouldn’t recommend it. And occasionally a “fancy” restaurant will try to Americanize a salad by throwing a leaf of some sort of greenery in the bottom of the bowl. But your typical salad is going to be chunks of random things covered in mayo. For example, a few weeks ago, I had a “Crab Salad” that consisted of imitation crabmeat, corn, cheese, broccoli, and pineapple…in mayonnaise. I was doing okay until I came to that first piece of pineapple…

Soups

The main dish that Ukraine is famous for is borscht. It is normally a dark red color, as the base is beets, and usually includes dill, cabbage, potatoes, and one piece of meat. I assume the single piece of meat is a throwback to rationing during Soviet times. There’s also green borscht here, which is good, although we haven’t really figured out exactly what’s in it (we’re not picky about our food). There are lots of other soups available, but we’ve stuck mainly with the borschts. No cream soups that I’ve noticed, but you are highly encouraged to put sour cream on your borscht (and any other dish that doesn’t already have mayonnaise).

Mains and Sides

I know, I know, everyone thinks that the main dish here is Chicken Kiev. While it is widely available here, there is another popular option: A piece of pork pounded into submission, breaded and fried. Called a cutlet here, it’s pretty much a tenderloin for my Hoosier readers. Sometimes it’s topped with things: tomatoes, mayonnaise and cheese, or pineapple. If you’re in the mood for fish, deep fried fish patties are a good option, although sometimes you get a bite with a bone in it - I get the feeling maybe they cut down their prep time by just throwing the whole fish into the grinder. Other dishes include golubtsi (stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce), vareniki (boiled dumplings stuffed with meat, cabbage, cheese, or even cherries for dessert), mlintsi (very much like French crepes), and deruni (potato pancakes). Speaking of potatoes, that’s the main side dish, in every conceivable form.

Dessert

With the exception of mlintsi with honey, I have yet to actually eat any dessert in Kyiv. This is because their idea of dessert involves putting unflavored gelatin on top of cake, sometimes with fruit embedded in it. Maybe it’s just my theatre background coming out, but it all looks like prop food to me - shiny and not actually meant for human consumption. I always wondered why grocery stores even sold unflavored gelatin. Now I know that it’s so that Ukrainians can ruin what appear to be perfectly good cakes with it.

Beverages

Beer is cheap, tastes okay, and can be consumed at any time of day. As with most foreign countries, you can easily get Coke, Coke Light and Fanta at most restaurants. However, it’s usually more expensive than the beer. And there’s no ice (take note, Dad!). Of course, there’s vodka, which most people here seem to consume by the bottle, possibly because it doesn’t cost much more than the beer. And then there’s the thing that I didn’t expect, but find very exciting: the variety and affordability of juices. You can get the juice of practically any kind of fruit here, often fresh.

So that’s Ukrainian food. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface, but seeing as I’ve just spent an hour on this lengthy post, that’s probably enough. I hope that I’ve whetted the appetite of those of you trying to live vicariously through me!