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| Varenyky, Ukrainian perogies |
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| Ukrainian Borscht |
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| Holubtsi, Ukrainian cabbage rolls |
Food was simple in the village of Bila 100 years ago. Bila
was a small village in Ukraine, just outside the walls of the city of Ternopil’,
Ukraine. The villagers ate what they grew, and depending on the season, meals
could be bountiful or small.
My great aunt, Katherine Pylatiuk, described in her
autobiography what her family ate on a typical day. Breakfast was mashed potato with sauerkraut or sour milk.
Dinner, the main meal of the day, was kasha (buckwheat) or
borscht, which was made from dried beans, sour beets, potatoes, cabbage and
homemade noodles. The kasha could be prepared several ways, including pancakes.
Supper was a baked potato and tea.
In the winter, the family supper would include a herring,
one fish for the family of eight children. It was cut up, with the head going to the oldest person at
the table, and the tail going to the youngest. The rest of the fish was divided up to serve the number of
people at the table. Everybody ate
from the same bowl, using only their fingers. The only utensils they used were spoons to eat the soup.
In the summer, fresh corn was in season, and since there was so
much, a person could eat as much as he or she wanted.
My great aunt Katherine Pylatiuk stated that she was “always
hungry, it seemed as if there was never enough to eat.” She said that her mother wasn’t a fancy
cook, and that she didn’t always enjoy her mother’s cooking.
Although the family had ducks, chickens and a cow, they rarely
ate any meat. The cow’s milk was
for drinking, cooking and cheese making.
The eggs were used for cooking and eating and to sell to a man who
resold them in the city of Ternopil’.
They also had some cherry trees and raspberry bushes, and these fruits
were a seasonal treat. Bread was
baked once a week, always rye. The
rye was raised and harvested by the family and ground into flour at a local
mill. White bread was served only
on the major holidays.
When the family worked in the fields harvesting their
crops, they brought something to eat with them, usually bread and
water. If the bread was eaten
early in the day, that was it, there
was nothing more to eat until the workday was over.
There was a tavern in the village, which was open only to
men,where beer and whiskey was
sold. The villagers often
purchased liquor and drank it at home, accompanied by a piece of bread rubbed
with a garlic clove and a chunk of salt pork. Women drank whiskey too, but someone had to go to the tavern
and bring it back, since they were not allowed inside.
Holiday meals were the opposite of the meager everyday
meals. The two major holidays,
Christmas and Easter featured large meals with several courses. Fish was served at the Christmas Eve
meal, along with several other meatless dishes. Meat was served on Easter, probably the only time during the
year that the villagers ate it.
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| Christmas Eve Dinner: woodcut by Jacques Hnivsdovsky. |
The Christmas dinner included varenyky, boiled dumplings
stuffed with potato, sauerkraut or prunes. The prunes were a special treat, and
had to be purchased in Ternopil’. Holubtsi,
cabbage stuffed with buckwheat, borscht, herring, pumpushki (filled donuts),
pyrizhsky (baked turnovers, stuffed with prunes) and kolach (braided wheat
bread).
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| Christmas Eve in Ukraine, a painting by Yaroslava Surmach Mills |
Easter was celebrated for three days. The Easter dinner
included Paska (decorated Easter bread made with wheat flour), kielbasa (smoked
garlic pork sausage), studenetz, (pork feet in aspic) ham, hreem (beet horseradish),
and cheese. On Monday, the day
after Easter, Katherine’s mother made varenyky (boiled stuffed dumplings) from
the left over cheese.
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| These freshly baked babka breads look just like the ones my grandmother made. |
Weddings were eagerly anticipated, since they were a break
from the everyday routine. It was
a chance to celebrate a happy occasion as well as a chance to eat special foods
like varenyky and white bread.
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Easter in Ukraine, woodcut by Jacques Hnivsdovsky
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