“SMACHNOGO!”

true, by taking the time to share recipe – and a window into daily Magazine. Borscht is so significant it’s recently been deemed an Ukraine. Since the beginning of the series of emergency measures in the protection of journalists, in initiative of the Member States

Safeguarding of the Intangible commitment of UNESCO in favor of for a deeper look into this precious

Annah Tsukanova, from Kiev, Ukraine, is a featured home chef and storyteller for Life Recipe Magazine. She is not only an accomplished and energetic accountant with 16 years’ history of achievement in accounting, but she also skated solo for the Kiev Ballet on Ice for 10 years. Since 2014, she’s been and remains the founder and leader of LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS, a charity foundation supporting people impacted by war: Medical equipment supply, military combat shock/trainer certification, and psychological assistance courses for anti-terrorist

For Ukraine it’s of course borscht and vareniki (potato dumplings), dishes which include in their ingredients and cooking types traditions of the East and West – which met each other and with time created Ukraine – a country of multiple cultures and traditions.

Each nation which participated in the creation of the Ukrainian nation brought together, to create Ukrainian borscht, something from all of them.

History brings to us a daughter of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, named Anna, future queen of the France who brings borscht to her dad; she cooked it first added the red beetroot for the colour and taste.

Someone added a meat, especially veal, and someone added haricot beans, someone tomatoes, someone fruits even! Some Ukrainians adding a dried plumps in borscht?! Yes, yes! All these contributions from different nationalities have made it what it is today. Similar to the melting pot called America, isn’t it? That’s just one reason modern Ukrainians and Americans are the same.

The country Ukraine existed on this land within her borders already more than 1,000 years – and over the ages – many recipes of the borscht appeared, maybe as many as there are nationalities which Ukraine includes within the country border of Europe and East. (It is to the East, namely Turkey, that Ukraine owes the appearance of the most favorite dish of Ukrainians, after borscht, of course, vareniki.)

Vareniki means freedom; it was born like very traditional dish from the East, thankful to free Ukrainians named Cossacks. It became the dish that every housewife wanted to master. Vareniki with cherries is popular, but if you don’t like cherries you can make them savory by putting onion, cabbage, potatoes, or cheese.

All this is freedom and mix of history and traditions makes up modern Ukraine, now in the unspeakable fight for her freedom and independence. And who knows, maybe this struggle will give birth to new dishes and new recipes?

More Ukrainian TraditionalDishes

1. Holubsti / Seasoned beef, veggies and rice-stuffed cabbage with tomato sauce.

2. Deruny / Fluffy, crispy breakfast potato “pancakes.”

3. Salo / Cured pork fat with surprising health benefits.

4. Banush / Smooth corn porridge, often bedecked with a mushroom sauce, crispy bacon bits and crumbly/creamy sheep’s milk cheese.

5. Ukrainian Pierogis / Potato & cheese-filled pillows of love.

6. Uzvar / Original holiday (mocktail) drink made of dried fruits & berries soaked in boiling water, cooled and sweetened with honey.

7. Kiev Cake / Light layered cake, jam, meringue, chocolate cream frosting & hazelnuts.

Editor’s Note:

My son Max and I picked apples every autumn for 15 years, since he was a newborn on my back, exploring acres of sprawling, sweet-scented orchards. Then –we’d beeline home to simmer up some applesauce on the stove. From the countless field trips that I led while teaching K-8, we learned that – as Max shows in the photo – apples are not to be yanked down from the tree with the leaf clusters attached. Each ripe fruit should be selected, grabbed onto, and turned upward with a twist, leaving on the stem but not the leaves. This promises for next year’s apples. Sustainable harvesting and respectful stewardship are always key to the promise of future crops, no matter what you’re harvesting. (Worth noting, is that when harvesting certain annual plants, like sweet peas, you DO take the leaf cluster with it: it keeps the peas alive longer, and the plant is not producing next year.)

Orchard apples, Malus pumila, are quite possibly one of the perfect plants on Earth. The adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is timeless. Just like the memories that apples can make.