Spring has Sprung!

This past week, I was in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, where spring has finally sprung.  The combination of the May holidays with upcoming Orthodox Easter has meant a flurry everywhere of cleaning, painting, and most important, planting.

We didn't ever get to a market visit,  but I found it interesting that in many part of Donetsk, a highly industrial city, it still feels like a village, with residents intensively cultivating their small plots.  Here's a bit of what I saw.  At the top of the post, Lyumilla cultivates her front yard, just half a block away from a factory.

And as we walked along another part of the city, on a colder gray day, we saw many people, mostly women, out planting and preparing.

And turning a corner, a place that felt exactly like a village.  Jars of pickled mushrooms were tucked back into the back of a market stall by a bus stop and this woman brought flowers from her garden (that day, brilliant tulips) to sell in the city center. 

It was Palm Sunday and the city was filled with residents carefully carrying their bundles of pussy willows in honor of the day, like these two girls on the mashrutka.

And as we took the train back to Kyiv and twilight fell, I was reminded, once again, about how beautiful and fertile Ukraine's land is.  Lovely!

Greek Life

Last summer, the Pickle Project on Parade (as we endeavored to call it) visited the fascinating Mariupol Region of southeastern Ukraine. Our travels to this region were inspired by an interest in learning more about the Greek communities there and sharing their stories with Pickle Project readers. This post is the first in a series about the people, culture and cuisine of Greek Mariupol. Special thanks to Galina, Carina, Anna, Lubov and Tatiana for all of your ideas, enthusiasm and support in Mariupol.

Maripoul Oblast is home to largest Greek-Ukrainian population in the country. Lubov, an ethnographer at the Donetsk Regional Museum, explained that there has long been a strong Greek influence in the Mariupol region, as Greek sailors and traders made their way from the Sea of Azoz, across the southern steppes. Greek settlements in the region were expanded in the 1780’s as Katherine the Great sought to consolidate her rule in the Black Sea region, especially Crimea. At the time, Greeks were the primary labor force in Crimea, Lubov explained. In an effort to weaken rising powers of the Crimean Khanate on the Peninsula, Katherine’s forces pushed the Greek population, along with large groups of Crimean Tatars, into the territories of Mariupol. This was one component of Katherine’s larger “planned colonization” strategy undertaken across Ukraine.

Greek villages are scattered across the region but Saratana and Starry Krim (Old Crimea) are two of the most prominent. Greek cultural traditions and practices, including food preparation, remain strong in the region. We also learned that there are efforts underway to preserve the Greek language spoken in the villages of Mariupol, a dialect called Rumaiica.

We had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Tatiana Bohadetsa, director of the Museum of Greek History and Ethnography in Sartana to sample some Greek-Ukrainian specialties. To our great indulgence, Tatiana is not only an expert of local Greek history and culture, she is also the author of a cookbook featuring Greek specialties of the region.

Included in this feast were the delightfully named smoosh (шмуш), puffy pastries filled with spiced meats or fish and potatoes. My favorite were crispy fried triangles stuffed with pumpkin and sauteed onions.

For Tatiana, these dishes are central to helping keep the connection to her Greek heritage alive. She also noted that food is an easy access point for people. It tastes good, helps them remember and helps them learn. We couldn’t agree more.

Top to bottom:
Mural at the museum in Saratana
Cookbook
Smoosh

Galina’s Favorite Meal

Often, discussion of food and culture is focused on those big celebratory meals, at holidays and seasonal festival times. On our recent research trip, we specifically explored the foods of daily life in Ukraine. Drawing on this work, the Pickle Project is launching the "Favorite Meal" segment, to share stories about people and their favorite foods and memorable meals.

Galina is an enthusiastic friend of the Pickle Project that lives in Donetsk. She told us that, while she does love to cook and spends much time tending her garden outside the city in the summer months, because of her busy schedule, she prefers simple, healthy, quick meals.

Galina’s favorite meal is a broth made with mutton and accompanied by black bread toasts. She makes the toasts by rubbing slices of heavy black bread with minced garlic. She then cuts the bread slices into small pieces and dries them out over several hours. The result is a crunchy, garlicy crouton that she can float in the flavorful broth. Galina also likes to add fresh dill to her soup and toasts. “Oh!” she gasped and put her hands on her cheeks, in mock ecstasy “it is delicious.” When she has time, she adds, she may also put together a quick cabbage salad. Her typical salad combines shredded green cabbage with sliced fresh cucumbers and smetana (a cultured milk product, like sour cream), with salt and pepper.

A Round of Thanks!

During our recent trip to Ukraine, we found a vast, beautiful, changing country of great diversity, both in communities and landscape. We saw dramatic coastlines, vast fertile fields of wheat, high mountain meadows, large cities and tiny villages, all with a wide array of foods and traditions.

However, more important are the many people we met along the way and those that continue to support the Pickle Project, without whom our work would not be possible.  Our partners are a cornerstone of the Pickle Project. Their enthusiastic on-the-ground assistance during this trip and ongoing collaborations make a great difference in our work. Specific thanks to:

· Ihor and Tania Poshyvailo from the Ivan Honchar Museum, Kyiv (with translation assistance from Valentina Bochkovska)

· Valentyna Sakhenko from Eko-Art, Donetsk

· Hannah Shelest from Promotion of Intercultural Cooperation, Odessa

· Ihor Savchuk, Sofiya Kosarchyn, Bozhena Zakaliuzhna and Olha Kotska from the Centre for Cultural Management, L’viv

Our thanks also go to a very long list (we hope we haven’t missed anyone) of wonderful people who provided translation, food and cultural research suggestions and ideas, transportation support and coordination, a place to rest our weary heads, a lovely meal with family, and so much more. In no particular order, we raise an appreciative glass to:

• The entire Leonenko family, Donetsk (and Irina, there in spirit!)
• Svitlana and Vladimir Salamatov, their family and neighbors,  Kyiv
• Neshet, Lenura, Serdar and Safie Seytaptiev, Ak-Meshet, Crimea
• Katia Burkush, Kyiv
• Barb Weiser, Peace Corps Volunteer, Simferopol/Ak-Meshet, Crimea
• Cheryl Pratt, Peace Corps Volunteer, Sovetskiy, Crimea
• Lidia Lykhach, Kyiv/US
• Galina Chumak, Donetsk Art Museum, Donetsk
• Staff at the village museum in Prelestno, Donetsk’a Oblast
• Staff at the Greek museum in Sartana, Donetsk’a Oblast
• Workers at the restaurant in Sartana,  Donetsk’a Oblast
• Lyubov, Ethnographer from the Museum of Local History, Donetsk
• Alie Yuldasheva, Simferopol
• Arzy Emirova, Crimea
• Christi-Anne Hofland, L’viv
• Eugene Chervony (L’viv) and family, L’vivska Oblast
• Ania Ivanchenko, Donetsk
• Alexandra Kirichenko, Donetsk
• Carina, Donetsk
• Natalia Bogachova, Odessa
• Olya Kik, Oksana Terteka and Halja Pavlyshyn, L’viv
• Nataliya Stryamets and the entire Stryamets family, L’viska Oblast
• Olya and Mykola in Akreshori, Ivano-Frankivs'ka oblast
• Cheesemakers Vasyl, Mykolya, Mykolya and others
• All the market vendors everywhere!

Of course, last but certainly not least, we also extend our warmest gratitude to our Kickstarter backers, as well as key supporting partners Shelburne Farms and the Trust for Mutual Understanding, that enable us to conduct this vital fieldwork, continue to expand our network and further build the Pickle Project!